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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23130328">Four Swords: Fallen Timeline</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingVio/pseuds/SingingVio'>SingingVio</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fuckign-- kids these days with getting trapped in ice and turning into demons and stuff. [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda &amp; Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adult!Green, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fallen Timeline, Amnesia, Angst, Demon!Vio, F/M, Gen, Ghost!Red, Ghosts, Green doesn't know how to feelings, Green needs help, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No Beta we die like Red, Resurrection, Shadow doesn't know how to feelings, Vio is kind of an asshole, Zelda doesn't know what's going on and she freaks out about it, a polite asshole but an asshole nonetheless, help them, no one knows how to do anything, temporary major character death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:14:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>36,705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23130328</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingVio/pseuds/SingingVio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Links get split up, what happens? What if they failed?</p><p>When dreams make continuing his peaceful life with his family in the Gerudo Desert impossible, a now adult Green sets out to find the reason behind it, which lies hidden in his forgotten past. And once he finds a frozen kid in a cave, what he previously thought he knew slowly unravels. And everything just goes downhill from there...<br/>----<br/>Meanwhile life for Shadow is good, with his victory years ago he got everything he's ever wanted and his knowledgeable companion makes sure life is never boring. But then he get's bad news that a new dark force is present... one that makes his army disappear, including Ganon and Vaati, who, to be fair, Shadow hated anyway. So now, he had no choice but to get his rivals back into a team, with new allies, to get rid of this new evil that even he can't stand.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Blue Link &amp; Green Link, Blue Link &amp; Green Link &amp; Red Link &amp; Shadow Link &amp; Vio Link, Green Link &amp; Everyone, Green Link/OC, Red Link &amp; Vio Link, Shadow Link &amp; Vio Link, Shadow Link/Vio Link</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fuckign-- kids these days with getting trapped in ice and turning into demons and stuff. [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662604</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Chapter one: Green leaves and Shadow admires the courtyard.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A thirty-something year old man leaned on the door frame at the entrance to his hut, watching the sunset. He had blond hair, darker at the roots but the rest as golden as the sun, tied back in a small ponytail. The man had a beard, as well, though short, and was wearing a loose green shirt, white pants coated with grass stains and dirt at the knees, ankle boots, and a brown cloak with a hood, shielding him from the sun.</p><p>Two children, a girl of 16 and a boy of 12, ran out and a woman followed behind them, holding a little three-year-old girl who was sucking her thumb.</p><p>“Dad, do you HAVE to leave?” asked the girl, blonde like her father with piercing blue eyes. She wore a pink and green dress that reached her knees, a belt tied around her waist and loose black pants tucked into her tall boots. The man nodded at her. “Why? You’re fine here!” she protested. Her brother nodded in agreement.</p><p>“Sky, I need to leave.” the man said, smiling at his daughter.</p><p>“But WHY? I usually don’t agree with my boy-crazy sister-- OW!” the boy, Link, said, a boy with bright red hair and vitiligo. A condition where his dark Gerudo skin lost pigment, making him look spotted like a leopard, specifically on one side of his face and on his forearms.He rubbed his arm and glared at his sister. “Sky, that HURT!” he complained. He wore a simple blue shirt with a lobster design and brown pants, barefoot.</p><p>“I know!” she smirked.</p><p>“ANYWAY.” Link continued, shooting another glare at Sky, who was now playing with her hair and not really paying attention, winding the blond curls around her fingers and then braiding them. “I don’t see why you need to leave. I mean, you’re really happy right now!”</p><p>“Link, Sky… Esmerelda.” he nodded at his wife, and the little girl, Ruby, gurgled happily. She was three, with long red hair tied in a braid like her mother and tan skin, wearing a loose red tunic tied with a string so it didn’t fall off her. She still didn’t talk much despite being three years old. “I feel like I need to leave for a while… I’d love to stay here with you guys, but I’ve been so restless lately and I think a week away will do me good. Calm down my adventurous spirit, eh?”</p><p>“But--” Link said, always hesitant and a bit clingy to his parents.</p><p>“I’ll be back in a week at the latest, kids.” the man reassured them. Of course, what he said wasn’t the reason he was leaving. Not the whole reason, at least. He’d been having strange dreams, but he wasn’t about to tell his kids that, they were worried enough with their own problems. “I promise. Do you want anything?”</p><p>“Oh! Ooh, a Cuckoo!” Sky said, bouncing up and down. Link and his father visibly winced.</p><p>“No. Sky, no, Link and I can’t stand them, we are not getting a Cuckoo. How about a rabbit, they’re nicer and you love fluffy things like that.” he suggested. Sky contemplated this a moment and nodded.</p><p>“Sure!” she confirmed. She turned to her brother, ruffling his hair. He flailed, yelping, and she removed her hand. “What about you, little brother?”</p><p>“Sky…” he muttered. “Uh, a sword! Or, oh, if you go on an adventure give me the prize! Heroes always get a prize, like saving the princess they get gold, or if they save a village they might get food!”</p><p>“You greedy little pig.” Sky muttered. Link shoved her off the porch into the sand dunes. “HEY! MOM, LINK PUSHED ME INTO THE SAND!”</p><p>“Mm. Link, don’t torment your sister.”</p><p>“SHE PUSHED ME FIRST!” Link protested. His father sighed.</p><p>“You know what, both of you drop it, I’m too done to deal with this.” he muttered. “I need to leave.”</p><p>Another half-hour of goodbyes and arguing from Sky and Link, along with a kiss from Esmerelda that made the two older siblings make gagging noises and go back inside, he was gone.</p><p>
  <i>Last night…</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Wow, a boat!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Huh, I guess it is faster to do things as four.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“I told you guys, we can do anything if we actually work together!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Yeah, yeah, get off your high horse purple boy.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Shut up.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Come on, guys, if we go now we can reach Vaati in no time!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Be careful, overconfidence leads to failure!”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Not all the time, look at v-EGO over here.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“THAT IS NOT MY NAME, YOU SON OF A--.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“UUH, Next stop, DEATH MOUNTAIN!”</i>
</p><p>Green woke up in a cold sweat. He looked around frantically and then remembered. He was in the woods, camping. Duh. He left his home to blow off steam! He sighed and laid back down on his cot, staring up at the sky. Something wasn’t right… what was that… Wind?</p><p>He stood up shakily, brushing himself off, and drew a dagger from his satchel before heading off to the source of the sound. He eventually reached a cave, blowing a strong wind and snow occasionally falling out as well. It was too early for snow… way too early. It was summer in the Gerudo Desert, which he was still just on the borders of.</p><p>“Hello?” he put his cloak around his shoulders, fastening it and pulling up the front so it covered his face-- except for his eyes. He didn’t want to freeze to death or anything. “Is anyone in here?”</p><p>
  <b>”Come on out, Vaati! The great BLUE HERO will VANQUISH YOU!”</b>
</p><p>
  <b>“DON’T KID AROUND! I’m MORE than enough to defeat a stupid old SORCERER!”</b>
</p><p>Green stumbled back. That voice… was all too familiar. So confident, yes, but angry and brutal too. He couldn’t stand hearing it, the voice gave him a headache and pulled memories out of the void in his mind he’d kept locked up for so long.</p><p>Maybe…</p><p>Maybe he should leave, he didn’t want to freeze here because he was having a panic attack over some stupid echos.</p><p>He tried to turn but found that he couldn’t. He looked down, his feet were frozen solid in ice. He crouched down quickly and started hacking off the ice with his dagger. Getting closer to his foot, he was more careful until he was able to pry his feet free, then he quickly tried to run again-- but the wind pushed him back. He lost his footing, tumbling into the snow.</p><p>“O… Okay, guess I’m going this way, then…” he felt like a child, a teenager, maybe, a daring young knight venturing into the unknown to save a princess. As he entered the cave, things seemed to get larger around him, he got more energetic, and he caught his reflection on an ice wall and almost screamed.</p><p>He didn’t look like him anymore… more like…</p><p>
  <i>I’M Link, you idiot!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Link, hurry!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>I don’t need you other Links!</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Come on, Link, get up, you are not dying on me!</i>
</p><p>His hair was fluffy and all over the place, he had freckles and bright green eyes full of creativity and ideas, his clothes changed into a green knight’s tunic with a yellow belt buckle and a shield on his back.</p><p>“I… What?”</p><p>He ran into the cave further despite wanting to turn back and never go near this place again, and he kept running and running, scared of his own reflection--</p><p>Until he bumped into an ice statue.</p><p>Not a statue.</p><p>“Oh-- OH SWEET HYLIA IS THAT A KID?” he yelled. He stood up and stared at the sculpture-- the kid looked just like he did now that he had… anti-aged, with spikier hair and blue eyes and tunic but the same belt, shield, body type, and even face, except that he looked angry and shocked instead of just shocked. The boy seemed to be shaking with either anger or fear and Green swore he could feel the statue staring at him.</p><p>“H-hello? Are you… alive?” he touched the statue’s face gently, shaking, and then made an impulsive decision he’d never make again.</p><p>He broke the ice with his dagger, plunging the blade into the thickest part of the ice, right near they boy’s wrists. He made sure not to cut them, and after a time that he couldn’t count, being so focused on setting the other boy free, the blue-clad child was finally gone from the icy prison. The boy lowered his sword slowly, and turned to look at Green.</p><p>“You-- what… took you so long… you idiot?”</p><p>Green blanched. “I’m sorry, do I--” the boy’s eyes closed and he fell forward, making Green catch him and hold him up. “Know you?”</p><p>He was asleep.</p><p>---</p><p>Green sat at the campfire, far away from the cave where his gear and cot was. He stared at the boy lying on his cot, curled up like a cat and sleeping soundly, still shivering. Green looked down at himself. He had turned back to normal after the cave, but the boy didn’t change back too, Apparently while you were trapped in ice you didn’t age.</p><p>How long had the boy been trapped there?</p><p>And why did he seem to remember Green?</p><p>Green was startled from his thoughts when he heard more movement from the boy. “Shut up, you-- I’ll save them myself, I’ll show you… Don’t just leave me here, I want to help! No-- No, I--” he stopped, going very still. Green panicked, rushing forward and shaking him-- which probably wasn’t a very good idea in hindsight when the boy shot up to a sitting position, in the process smacking Green in the face.</p><p>“Ow!” Green rubbed his nose where the boy hit him. “Watch it, kid!”</p><p>“Pfft. Where am I?” the boy completely ignored Green complaining about how he hurt him, Din damnit, and looked around. “It’s really dark out here.” he noted.</p><p>“Gerudo desert. I’m Green, nice to meet you after you passed out and had me carry you all the way out back to my camp from the ice cave.” Green said, full of sarcasm that the boy caught and glared at him.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I’m-- wait, what’s your name again?”</p><p>“Uh, Green. No last name that I know of.”</p><p>The boy stared at him for a very long time, then leapt forward and crushed him in a hug. “Green!” he laughed, then pushed away and shoved Green to the ground. “WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG, YOU PIECE OF SHIT?”</p><p>“I…” Green took a moment to comprehend what just happened and what the boy said. “I’m sorry, but I’ve never seen you before in my life.”</p><p>---</p><p>
  <i>Meanwhile, far away… but not that far because Hyrule is small as heck.</i>
</p><p>Shadow looked the same as he did a long time ago. That was one of the perks of being a demon! He still had the purple hair, though with yellow tips this time, the Gerudo complexion, and the black tunic, though now with longer sleeves, more sweater-like than when he was fourteen. His eyes were now mismatched purple and yellow, with slitted pupils and still lined with eyeliner-- why not? He also had black diamond-shaped earrings, because again, why not? He could do what he wanted, he was a shapeshifter!</p><p>He walked through the temple until he found the dark mirror-- it had a blanket thrown over it, he didn’t want it to break, or get anything on it, really. He looked at it for a moment, then shook his head and kept walking. No reason to bother, he’d know if it was damaged…</p><p>Finally, Shadow found the courtyard. It was actually rather nice, despite being located on a volcano. Dark magic did help with tending to it. The flower beds were filled with black roses, and violets, and at some point Vio had convinced him to add gardenias, and while their bright white colors and vibrant petals contrasted with the rest of the dark garden, full of purples, blacks, and dark reds, they were beautiful and they made Shadow want to tend to the garden more.</p><p>He made his way through the courtyard until reaching the stone wall that surrounded it. He flew up to the top of the wall and sat down on it, looking out over the other side and swinging his legs, his ankles occasionally passing through the wall instead of hitting it-- which wasn’t that worrisome. Vio would be back soon, then they could have fun and go to the library, prank the other monsters and feed the dragons. He’d been gone for a long time.</p><p>“Good evening, Shadow.” Shadow flinched in surprise and looked down to see Vio standing below the wall. Shadow waved, grinning and flashing his fangs as he did so. Vio smiled back and flew up to sit besides Shadow. “How was your day?”</p><p>“It was really boring…” Shadow muttered, leaning against Vio’s shoulder. “You weren’t there to help me cause trouble.”</p><p>“I happen to remember that you are the one causing trouble, I am merely providing little ideas to make it a bit more interesting.”</p><p>“You’re really modest, Vi, you come up with all the ideas! You make it FUN to be in the light world!”</p><p>“Oh, really.”</p><p>“Really!”</p><p>The two sat in silence for a while. Shadow looked at Vio, then looked back at the sunset, a mix of reds, oranges, and pinks lighting up the horizon. Vio had also changed a lot… mostly because he wasn’t Hylian anymore. He was a demon, after an… accident. His tunic was somewhat the same, but the undershirt he once had was now a sweater-- demons were always cold for some reason-- and he wore loose black pants and no shoes, he rarely ever walked and took great delight in flying, showing off that he could actually fly instead of just hover like Shadow. The sclera, the ‘whites of his eyes,’ was pitch black now and his purple irises glowed constantly, no matter how dark or light it was. His hair was long enough to be in a braid and his hat, unlike Shadow’s, whose hat stayed, was no longer there.</p><p>Things were great, or at least they were before Vio turned to him, brows furrowed worriedly. Shadow sat back up, looking at him. “Shadow, I need to tell you something, something… rather upsetting, I suppose.” he started.</p><p>---</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Shadow gets some bad news and Green loses the only connection to his past.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>trigger warnings for: anxiety attacks, no knowledge of how to calm down anxiety attacks from the character, mentions of murder, mentions of death, mentions of serious injury, and angry screaming.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What? What is it?” Shadow asked, frowning. He didn’t like bad news, for a reason. It was bad, it interfered with his plans often, and most importantly, it made Vio distant. And Shadow didn’t like that.</p><p>“Shadow, Vaati and Ganon are gone.”</p><p>“Yeah, I know that, we’ve known that for what, like, three years?” Shadow laughed nervously.</p><p>“Shadow, they’re dead because someone else killed them.” Vio said. Shadow froze, his eyes turning yellow from fear.</p><p>“What?” he whispered. “That’s impossible, they’re powerful-- really powerful, and the mirror--”</p><p>“You heard me, Shadow… He wants to destroy everything. Everything, I heard many people talking about it while I was traveling.” Vio said, staring at the ground as he fidgeted nervously.</p><p>Shadow blinked and his eyes turned orange, partly to reassure Vio. “Who?”</p><p>“Someone named-- I don’t know much about him but there’s probably something in the temple’s library-- Demise.”</p><p>Shadow’s eyes flashed full blue before turning back orange.</p><p>“That son of a BITCH I thought he was dead.” he muttered. Vio frowned worriedly. His eye color doesn’t change, mostly because it just doesn’t.</p><p>“You… know Demise?”</p><p>“No, I know OF him, and I thought he died a really really long time ago at the hands of the Hero of the Sky.”</p><p>“I don’t know much, let’s go to the library.” Vio backflipped off the ledge, sticking the landing. Shadow just normally hopped off, glaring at him.</p><p>“Show-off.”</p><p>“What?” Vio asked innocently.</p><p>“You know what!” Shadow’s eyes flashed pink and orange, then back to red. “Let’s go now.” he grabbed Vio’s hand and pulled him back through the gardens and into the temple. Vio followed Shadow to the library, the doors magically opening on their own to reveal a large room full of books, some of them in piles in the corners because they didn’t fit on the shelves. “What should we look for?”</p><p>“Probably some books on ancient history, dark forces, or the Skyward realm, the first Hero of Hyrule… basically that. Maybe even magic items, Demise was trapped in a sword if I remember correctly.” Vio listed, going to the first shelf and running his fingers over the spines of the books to find the ones he was looking for. The library was alphabetized, so a history book might be right next to a sexy romance novel. One of the hinoxes seemed to love those for some reason, but it died a few years ago and no one really cared to throw them out.</p><p>Shadow nodded and started looking around the other side of the room, his eyes flashing green. “So, do you have anything?” he asked after a few minutes. Vio shook his head.</p><p>“No… You?”</p><p>“I saw this book on ancient items but nothing about Demise. Also a dictionary but it’s not the creature it’s the word.”</p><p>“Mmm. Dictionaries will do nothing.”</p><p>“I… I knew that.” Shadow huffed. After another hour of searching, Shadow found out a lot of new things about monsters-- some he didn’t want to know about-- but still nothing on Demise. He flipped through another book on ancient spells-- maybe one about whatever sealed Demise? But, no, nothing useful.</p><p>“Hey, Shadow, I found something, come here!” Vio called. Shadow grinned and floated back to the ground where Vio was, looking over his shoulder. “It’s an entire article on Demise.” he started reading it aloud.</p><p>
  <i>”Demise, is the eponymous demon king of Hyrule. He is the master of Demon Lord Ghirahim, and also the primal god of all evil in the entire universe. Demise led a hoard of monsters through the earth and led a conquest for the Triforce. Soon after the invasion began however, he was defeated by the goddess Hylia, and was sealed in the Sacred Realm. The Master Sword keeps him at bay, with the spirit inside of it holding all the information to defeat him.”</i>
</p><p>“Why would they include that last part that is practically BEGGING for a heroic quest.” Shadow exclaimed. Vio nodded slowly.</p><p>“Yes, but… we should probably try to find this Master Sword. If it can kill Demise, that means we should… probably use it?”</p><p>“That’s a bullshit argument.”</p><p>“I know I couldn’t think of anything!” Vio laughed. “We should probably start researching the Master Sword as well.” The two turned back to the shelves, Shadow once again flipping through the books. He knows very well what the Master Sword is… From a nursery rhyme. So, he didn’t know anything about it. He went back to the book on ancient weapons he had found earlier. Fire Rod? No. Shadow Crystal? Cool, but not it. Phantom Sword? That sounds really tacky, to be honest. Goddess Sword? No-- wait.</p><p>“Hey Vio look!” Vio took the book from him and saw the weapon. He frowned.</p><p>“Shadow, this is the Goddess Sword, not the Master Sword.”</p><p>“But didn’t the legends say something about them being the same thing?”</p><p>“N-- wait a second. Yes! It says right here! <i>’The Goddess Hylia created the Goddess Sword and Fi, an intelligent humanoid spirit who resides in the Sword, and gave it the purpose of assisting Hylia's chosen hero. She then enshrined the Sword inside the Statue of the Goddess before raising it into The Sky as part of Skyloft.’</i> Great, now Skyloft. <i>In order to defeat the Demons which threaten The Surface, it is eventually tempered into the Master Sword by the first Hero of Hyrule. It now resides in the Temple of Time</i>” Vio read, getting increasingly excited as he went on.</p><p>“Okay, this is great-- the Temple of Time, let’s just go there and WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THAT IS!” Shadow yelled. Vio jumped and looked at him worriedly.</p><p>“Shadow, it’s okay, we can just look it up.” he reasoned.</p><p>“WE HAVE BEEN IN HERE FOR FIVE HOURS! JUST TRYING TO FIND TWO THINGS!” Shadow said, getting increasingly upset for no legitimate reason he could fathom.</p><p>“Shadow, shush. We can take a break right now if you want. Just do whatever for a bit.” Vio said, looking down at his friend. Shadow’s eyes were glowing yellow. Oh boy.</p><p>“But we need to find out everything now because I don’t think Demise is going to wait to kill us too, I mean, he already killed Ganon and Vaati and just because we’ve been fine doesn’t mean we always will be” Shadow started pacing back and forth, his mind racing with so many outcomes he didn’t like if they didn’t take a break from researching this. “I mean we’re DEMONS Vio and people try to kill us on a daily basis and now there’s an incarnation of all evil in the world and a long time ago I MIGHT have been on his side but that was when I didn’t know what I was DOING and I don’t want to die because we’re unprepared and--”</p><p>Vio grabbed his shoulders, steadying him, and forced Shadow to look at him. “Shadow, I literally just got the news today, we have time to take a break and, frankly, I could go on for hours still but I think you need rest. You’ve been looking for a long time and this is clearly getting to you.”</p><p>“But--”</p><p>“No. Usually you’re the one telling me to take a break but this time I’m telling you and I have no idea what to do because you are nothing like me but we are leaving this room, we are going to go to your bedroom, and we are both going to rest in there for a while. Okay? The reason I say both of us is because we both know that the moment I leave you’re going to push yourself again and neither of us want that. So, put the books down, Shadow.”</p><p>“O-okay.” Shadow gently put the books on the table nearby that they rarely used because neither of them liked chairs and you had to sit in a chair to use the table as far as Shadow knew. Vio nodded.</p><p>“Come on.” Vio put an arm around Shadow, who leaned against the taller demon as Vio led him down the hall to his room. Vio opened the door and the two walked in, Shadow going to his bed and quickly getting under the blankets, burying himself in the warmth of the mattress. Vio sat down beside him, running his hands through Shadow’s hair.</p><p>He really didn’t know what to do, but when Shadow freaked out sometimes-- not to this extreme-- then Vio petting his hair would often calm him down. Usually it was Shadow dealing with Vio. When Vio was about to say something but forgot what it was, or do something, or he was <i>sure</i> he already knew that, why can’t he remember, he often freaked out because he doesn’t know what happened to him, what if he starts forgetting more. Shadow had to calm him down in those situations, but Vio himself had no experience with calming Shadow down to this extreme.</p><p>“Shadow, what happened? Why did you freak out? You don’t need to tell me if you don’t want to.”</p><p>“I don’t know, I just-- If Demise killed Ganon and Vaati, that means he’ll kill us too, and I really really don’t want you to die.”</p><p>“Me?” Vio blinked. “What about you.”</p><p>“You know what-- wait, no you don’t…”</p><p>“Shadow you know I don’t like having no memory, what?”</p><p>“I destroyed villages for the fun of it-- and because I was told to-- and I laughed doing it! I’m worse than you, you’re great, and you’re nice. You’re smart, you’re pretty-- uh. Bye.” Shadow hid under the covers again and Vio laughed.</p><p>“Shadow, I did not just hear that last sentence, and I won’t ever make fun of you about it-- that is, if I happened to hear it. Which I didn’t.”</p><p>“Wow you lost your ability to lie over the years.”</p><p>“Mm. Anyway, continue if you want.”</p><p>“Basically, I’m really bad, Vio, I’m awful, I had fun murdering people!”</p><p>“Yes you did.”</p><p>“A good person shouldn’t have fun doing that, and I don’t want to but I did and I don’t think someone that awful deserves to live.”</p><p>“Mm, you’ve got a point, but Shadow, I think that’s bullshit.”</p><p>“You JUST agreed with everything I said!”</p><p>“Because you’re right. A person that enjoys murdering others for the fun of it, and has no regrets, shouldn’t live. But someone who used to enjoy it and now clearly regrets it and would do anything for their friend now and is so torn up about what they used to do that this happens-- that person, I think, deserves to still live, like you said that I do.”</p><p>“But-- damn it why do you make SENSE?”</p><p>“I’m the smartest, for one-- ow!” Vio rubbed his arm where Shadow punched him. “Why?”</p><p>“Reign your ego back in, Vi. It’s running rampant through the temple again.”</p><p>“Okay, okay. Do you want to do something, or--”</p><p>Shadow shook his head. “Nah. I want to just stay here for a while, I guess.” he muttered, closing his eyes again. Vio smiled.</p><p>“Okay. I’m going to stay here, too.”</p><p>“M’kay.” Shadow said. Vio sat silently next to Shadow for a few minutes. Did Shadow really… murder people? And laugh about it? Of course, the Shadow he knew would never do that. But what about before? That Shadow, the Shadow Vio didn’t know? Why did he do that?</p><p>Vio was pulled out of his thoughts by Shadow’s arms wrapping around his waist. “Shadow, what--” he looked down to find that said demon was fast asleep. Only then did Vio notice the clear shadows (HA) under his eyes-- did he sleep when he was away? At all?</p><p>Shadow’s grip tightened when Vio shifted around to get up and Vio sighed. “Okay I guess I’m staying here.” he laid down next to Shadow so he was more comfortable, and eventually closed his eyes to sleep, too, ignoring the pain in his side he was going to tell Shadow about before they went to the library. He’d just tell him after they woke up.</p><p>
  <i>Meanwhile, at the edge of the Gerudo Desert…</i>
</p><p>“Wait, so you’re telling me… you don’t remember ANYTHING?”</p><p>“No, sorry.” Green scratched his head, then pulled out his ponytail to run his hands through his hair, trying to get out the sand in it. There was a lot. “I don’t, kid.”</p><p>“Green, you’re-- you’re kidding, right? You know me. Heck, you ARE me!”</p><p>“What? Are you okay?”</p><p>Blue’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my fuck you’re actually serious.” he muttered. “You really don’t remember? Our quest? Me? Red? Vio? Zelda?”</p><p>“No.” Green shook his head. Blue stared at the ground, tracing symbols in the dirt worriedly. Green clearly didn’t remember anything, at all, and the Green that Blue knew wouldn’t just do this for a prank, the Green that Blue knew was too nice to do that. Blue imagined what he wanted to happen.</p><p>He wanted Green to remember. For them to joke around like they did before-- and also fight, he wanted to see if Green could still fight like he used to, or did he give that up.</p><p>Did he… not care about forgetting?</p><p>Did he give everything up on purpose?</p><p>“You… you don’t want to remember, do you?” Blue asked. Green looked at him curiously.</p><p>“I-- huh?”</p><p>“You don’t want to remember anything, you probably wish you hadn’t met me, you just want to go back to your old life with your family, well guess what, Green, YOU’RE NOT REAL! You can’t HAVE a family because you. Aren’t. A. PERSON! YOU’RE JUST PART OF ONE! Do you really not remember? We used to fight all the time, and you couldn’t read a map to save your life and I teased you about it, but you were our LEADER and I thought I was ABANDONED because NO ONE CAME TO RESCUE ME! I was counting on you, Green, we all were, and I don’t think you knew that because I’ve been STUCK IN THAT CAVE FOR SO LONG I ALMOST FORGOT EVERYTHING BUT YOU KNOW WHAT KEPT ME FROM JUST GIVING UP IN THERE? I THOUGHT, “Green can help, he’ll realize something’s wrong and he’ll find me and the others and EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT!” But I guess--” he took a deep breath. “I guess we didn’t really matter, huh, because you forgot everything, and you don’t seem to care enough to remember, do you?”</p><p>Green stared at him, eyes wide and unblinking. He wanted to tell him that he actually wanted to remember, he didn’t mean to leave him-- and the others, whoever they were-- but…</p><p>“I guess I’ll find the others by myself, huh, Green? Because all you’re good for is abandoning the people who need you. You only care about yourself.” Blue turned on his heel and started running. He didn’t need Green, he didn’t need anyone! He could find Red and Vio on his own, and defeat Vaati and Ganon, without his good-for-nothing leader!</p><p>Hah. Some leader he was.</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>SOOO, ALL ABOARD THE ANGST TRAIN!</p><p>many (read: 60%) ideas later on come from @little-waterboiler on Tumblr, who's pretty much co-creating this story now, honestly.</p><p>If you liked this story please give comments/kudos! My Tumblr is @singingvio!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Blue gets mugged, Green panics, and we get two new faces: One familiar, one not so much.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Blue kept running as fast as he could, he didn’t want to be near Green, the traitor who forgot everything and didn’t seem to care. He didn’t need him, anyway, he could find the others on his own and he could save Zelda!</p><p>He was close to the border of Gerudo desert, which meant if he kept going at this speed he was bound to find a town soon enough. Once he exited the desert he’d be in the Hyrule Fields, and from there he somewhat remembered where to go to find a town.</p><p>He saw a sign post and skidded to a halt.</p><p>BLUE VILLAGE: 15 MILES<br/>YELLOW VILLAGE: 25 MILES<br/>PEARL VILLAGE: 2 MILES<br/>HYRULE CASTLE TOWN: 7 MILES</p><p>Pearl village was the closest, so Blue turned to where the sign pointed and started running again-- he was tired but there was no way he was going to stop, he never wanted to see Green again, he just wanted to find Red and Vio.</p><p>He just wanted Red and Vio.</p><p>Finally, Blue saw rooftops of pure white houses. They all looked the same. Blue walked into the town, slowing down. He took deep breaths, he had just run a long distance. Blue looked around, the town was deserted. Not truly deserted, but no one was outside. The shops were lit and houses were well kept… But no one was there. It was eerie, but at least it was a town. Blue searched his pockets, until he finally found his wallet. He quickly counted the rupees in it.</p><p>Ten red rupees (200), twenty-seven green rupees (27), one purple rupee (50), and six blue rupees (30). That added up to 307 rupees. Not a lot, but not a little, either. Good.</p><p>He walked into one of the stores and looked at the shelves. It was a pretty small shop, but he grabbed a loaf of bread (12 rupees), some milk (10 rupees), and pumpkin soup (30 rupees). 52 rupees, that left 255 rupees. That would make a good meal, he hadn’t eaten in a really long time.</p><p>Then Blue went to the store across from there-- a clothing store. He didn’t want to wear this tunic anymore, he was kind of tired of it to be honest. He bought some brown trousers (30 rupees), a loose blue T-shirt (that was his ‘color,’ after all) (20 rupees), black flat shoes (25 rupees), and a green knitted cap (take that, Green, now he was wearing ‘Link’s color!’) (15 rupees). 90 rupees total. He also bought a hunting knife (50 rupees) because his sword was extremely rusted now. He wasn’t about to get rid of it, but he couldn’t exactly fight with it. A knife would do the trick, and he had his hammer!</p><p>After buying all his new things, he found the bathroom of the shop and changed into his new clothes. He kept the belt, but looser now, but left the tunic and undershirt, and the stupid tights and boots. Instead he wore his new clothes, his sword still on his back but his new knife and food in his adventure pouch. He carried his clothes in a sack he tied around his waist, on the opposite side than his adventure pouch. He also used his knife to cut off some of his hair-- it was getting in the way and he wanted to look older than a kid, because… he was.</p><p>He walked out and looked around the small town square. There was a stack of crates over to his left, so he went there and sat down on one, pulling out his pumpkin soup, bread, and milk. He split the bread in thirds and put two of the pieces back in the bag. He drank about half the soup quickly, it was a bit too hot and almost burned his throat but he was relieved to feel warmth and not just ice cold pain.</p><p>Blue put the rest of the soup back and took the bread, about to bite into it when someone grabbed his arm, pulling him into the alley behind him. “What the--” he stopped as a knife was pressed to his throat.</p><p>“Hey, kid. Those are some nice clothes you got there… nice clothes cost money, ya know?” said a voice.</p><p>Oh, great, whoever this was thought he was probably rich. <i>Jokes on you, dipshit, I don’t have a lot of money.</i></p><p>“Fuck off.” Blue snapped. He leaned back against the stone wall more as the knife moved closer. “I don’t have money!” he added as the stranger, whoever they were, started searching his bag. They pulled out the tunic and hat, tossing them aside, then moved to the adventure pouch when they found the bag was empty. They carelessly loosened their grip on the knife at Blue’s neck, and Blue took the opportunity to get away.</p><p>He grabbed the thief's wrist with his opposite hand, pushing the knife away from his throat and slamming the thief's hand into the wall. The knife clattered to the ground and the thief yelled and grabbed at Blue, who quickly dodged and scooped up the other knife, then stood back up, spinning around to where the thief had his back to the opposite wall now and using his right hand to grab the thief’s shoulder and slam it into the wall, pressing the knife against the former owner’s neck, leaving the thief in the same position Blue was in a moment ago.</p><p>“You chose the wrong kid to mess with, buddy.” Blue growled. “I’m gonna get my stuff and I’m gonna go about my day, and you’re not gonna bother me again, or I’ll slice open your throat with your own knife. Got it?”</p><p>“G-got it!”</p><p>Blue almost laughed. The thief was a coward. “Good. Don’t make a move.” He quickly moved his bag and adventure pouch towards him with his foot and grabbed it with his other hand, not taking his eyes off his attacker. He stood up again and brought the knife down, then backed away and left the alley, going to the first lit building he could find. He put his back to the wall this time and stayed wary as he got his food back out and continued eating.</p><p>After he was done, he got up to leave but was stopped by two guards, or at least that’s what they looked like, with silver armor and polished spears. He gave them a look. “Uh… can I help you?”</p><p>The guards ignored him and one of them turned to a man behind them. “Is this him?” the man nodded and the guards lunged at Blue, one of them grabbing his arms and pinning them behind his back and the other getting his stuff. “Sir, you are under arrest for assault of a Pearl Villager and attempted murder.”</p><p>“What-- THAT WAS SELF DEFENSE!” Blue protested but the guards didn’t listen.</p><p>“Kid, we don’t trust outsiders, last time someone came here they burned down our village and blamed it on a small child. Who’s to say you won’t do the same, you look a lot like them, after all. You might even be related.”</p><p>“BULLSHIT, YOU’RE JUST SCARED!”</p><p>Blue kept yelling at them even after they tossed him in a random jail cell and locked it, leaving the room with his stuff. “Cowards…” he muttered. “Cowards, all of them…” he looked around the room, brushing himself off. The floor was stone, covered in straw, the walls were made of old stone bricks as well. Might collapse if enough force was applied, but it might cause Blue to be crushed, too. The bars were old and rusted but too sturdy still to actually break under pressure, and besides, Blue wasn’t that strong.</p><p>He kicked up dust with his feet and yelled at nothing. He didn’t do anything wrong, they were all just stupid! Stupid, all of them, he was just protecting himself…</p><p>“Hey, kid, maybe don’t make such a ruckus in there? Asked a voice. Blue whipped his head around to see a man across from him in another cell, a skeleton at the far wall with a faded tunic on.</p><p>“Oh I’m sorry was I disrupting your beauty sleep?” Blue seethed. The man shook his head.</p><p>“No, I’m wide awake. I just don’t want you to hurt yourself.”</p><p>“That’s funny, aren’t you a criminal?”</p><p>“Aren’t you, in the eyes of the town?”</p><p>“I--” Blue sat down. “Good point.”</p><p>“Why are you here? You look really young.”</p><p>“I’m fifteen! And I held a thief at knifepoint because he tried to take my stuff!”</p><p>“Ah, that’ll do it.. The guards here are idiots, they don’t see morals or motives, just ‘did you threaten someone? Okay, jail time.’ It’s rather stupid, if you ask me.”</p><p>“What did you do?” Blue asked.</p><p>“Oh, me? I can talk to ghosts, so they locked me up out of fear.”</p><p>“Oh oka-- what?” Blue’s ears twitched as he had to process that a second time.</p><p>“I can talk to ghosts.”</p><p>“Ghosts don’t exist!”</p><p>“Oh, they do. There’s a kid sitting with me right now, who’s dead.”</p><p>Blue looked around the cell, then back at the man with an eyebrow raised. “Unless you’re talking about the skeleton--”</p><p>The man shook his head. “I’m not. Well, I sort of am. Kid died here a long time ago. Try and see him-- he’s rather excited to meet you.”</p><p>---</p><p>Kid loved colors. He loved them so much, he could talk about them for days. Sadly, there were no colors in jail. Only No-Name. He liked No-Name. He was nice and liked to talk to Kid. Kid didn’t remember his name, so that’s what No-Name called him. Kid. Just Kid. And he was just No-Name.</p><p>He didn’t remember his real name but when he tried to remember he felt angry hands grabbing his arms and dragging him away and the heat of intense flames and he heard mad screams and--</p><p>Back to colors. He remembered them vividly. When he thought of pink he felt happy and safe, when he thought of blue he heard harsh but kind words, green was demanding and protective, and purple was very calm and made Kid want to sleep. Teal was confusing, a mix of laughter and light and love, but also terror, complete and utter terror. He didn’t want to think about the color black… every time he did he wanted to cry.</p><p>Red was his favorite color. It felt like him, it felt like he belonged with it. There was a time when he had pondered if Red was his name, but no one was named after colors! That was ridiculous!</p><p>Because of colors, Kid was ecstatic when someone got thrown in the jail cell across from No-Name’s. Because he was wearing such bright colors! Bright blue, it was so pretty.</p><p>---</p><p>“Buddy, I think you’re crazy…” Blue started, folding his arms. “There isn’t a ghost there.”</p><p>“Yes, there is, look closely. See, he’s right here. Maybe he doesn’t want to be seen. Kid, hey, Kid, my new friend here wants to say hi!”</p><p>“Who?” a boy in a ragged red tunic, his once-blonde hair unbrushed and matted with dirt, and tear tracks on his face appeared, though he looked upbeat for someone who had probably been crying. Blue pushed himself to the back of his cell, pressing his back up against the wall.</p><p>“I-- who-- what-- what?” he gasped. “You’re a ghost!”</p><p>“Oh, really?” the boy looked over himself in shock, as if he couldn’t believe it. “Of course I knew that!” he grinned. “I’m Kid!” he waved at Blue. “I… don’t know my real name, but that’s what No-Name calls me. What’s your name?”</p><p>“Uh, I-I’m Blue, and don’t you forget it!”</p><p>“Blue, huh? Feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before…” the boy jumped  up and started pacing around the cell, sometimes phasing through objects scattered on the floor. “Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue, Blue…” he muttered thoughtfully.</p><p>Blue looked over the ghost once more. His tunic hung off his ghostly skin and was tied loosely with a belt and a familiar golden buckle. His hat was covering some of his hair, and his pants were too lose. He wasn’t wearing shoes, his nails were caked with dirt and grime, and he was just dirty in general, but his eyes were a mix of bright blue and fiery red.</p><p>“...Red?”</p><p>“Sorry, I’m not Red, I don’t think I can be named a color… though your name is Blue, and I forgot my name.”</p><p>Blue sighed and leaned back against the wall, closed his eyes, and started to think. Red was happy, carefree, and highly emotional… sort of like Blue. The ghost acted like him in many ways, including being eternally nice despite not knowing Blue. Red had strawberry-blond hair and red-blue eyes (Red at the top of the eye, fading to blue. It was cool.). So did this ghost, though it was very faded and the ghost’s skin was covered in dirt.</p><p>Everything the ghost did reminded Blue of Red, especially his voice, and this was possibly the place Red ended up in when they got separated by the waterfall. This ghost is definitely Red, but he doesn’t remember.</p><p>Ghosts can’t remember most of their past, or how they died… but Blue could trigger those memories easily, they had the same childhood until they were split, and after that they still stayed close together, Red attaching himself to Blue in particular. Possibly because they both represented the emotions-- Red the more positive ones, and Blue the more negative ones. And, if he recalled, Vio represented the mind and Green the soul.</p><p>If Red couldn’t remember, Blue would <i>make him</i> remember. It was only a matter of time.</p><p>---</p><p>Meanwhile, Green sat down on a nearby rock, hugging his knees and catching his breath. Blue was fast, and Green had no idea where he had gone, so he had started with Pearl Village. Of course, he couldn’t find him, he was nowhere to be seen, and after running around the entire village, Green didn’t know what to do.</p><p>Maybe Blue had been captured. If he had been, Green should check in the darker regions of Hyrule. There was no way Blue would be captured by humans, according to how Blue was fairly strong and very fast. Other Hylians just wouldn’t be able to catch him. Especially not Green.</p><p>
  <i>He knew he should have taken those parkour lessons with Link when he could, this was tiring.</i>
</p><p>So, having no luck, Green turned and left the town, turning to the fiery mountain in the distance.</p><p>Death Mountain.</p><p>---</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which Vio and Shadow have a much-needed talk and Blue learns about souls.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger warning for mild injury and death mention. Also Red because he's... dead.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey, Vio, are you okay?” the demon in question turned to Shadow, who was looking at him worriedly from across the room, where he was fixing his eyeliner in Vio’s bedroom mirror. Vio glanced at where his hand was clutching his side, he’d just felt a sharp burst of pain from the wound he’d managed to keep hidden for a while.</p><p>Well, he’d better give up that charade. “Uh, yeah, I just got injured on the last outing. It’s really nothing, I treated it as soon as I had the chance.”</p><p>These words didn’t seem to reassure Shadow like Vio had hoped, instead making him more upset. “You got hurt? What happened? Why didn’t you tell me? What hurt you?” he asked, the rapid-fire questions making it a bit difficult for Vio to keep up.</p><p>“I, ah, this is rather embarrassing… A farmer accidentally hit me with his pitchfork, he apologized afterwards but I had to leave before he realized I wasn’t human.” Vio laughed, trying to brush it off, and lifted his arm to run his hand through his hair (that was unbraided that morning). Sadly, that action caused pain to once again shoot up his side, and he quickly brought his hand back down.</p><p>Shadow quickly ran to Vio’s side, sitting on the arm of his chair. “Okay, one, how does one accidentally hit someone with a pitchfork, and two, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?”</p><p>“I didn’t want to worry you?” he was telling the truth, but that wasn’t the main reason, and Shadow knew it. He raised an eyebrow at Vio’s excuse, and the taller demon sighed. “Fine, I was embarrassed that I let my guard down.”</p><p>“That’s a stupid reason.”</p><p>“Well I also didn’t want you to freak out and lock me in here again.” Vio muttered. When he noticed Shadow’s shocked expression he internally kicked himself. That entire incident was a sore subject. Shadow’s eyes quickly flashed blue before turning a multitude of colors, then back to red. He looked away from Vio, focused on whatever he found interesting on the floor.</p><p>“I-I had a good reason to do that last time!” he said.</p><p>“Which was what? What reason did you have to lock me up for a very long time, and constantly be near me-- which was fine, to be honest-- to make sure whatever the incident was never happened again? You never told me, just that there was an incident that resulted in amnesia somehow.” Vio shot. He had the patience of a saint, apparently, but that didn’t mean he liked information being withheld from him by his only friend. Especially if that information was about him. So, he was losing patience, and fast.</p><p>“You don’t want to know.”</p><p>“Why don’t I want to know? It’s about me, obviously, and I know it’s bad, but I think I have a right to know!” Vio yelled. He should have kept his cool, but he very badly wanted to know what happened, and Shadow wasn’t being reasonable; whatever the incident was, it happened to Vio, so he had a right to know. It wasn’t Shadow’s decision.</p><p>“Vio, I mean you really, really don’t want to know.” Shadow protested, turning back towards his friend and glancing at his side. “You should probably let me heal your wound with magic.”</p><p>Changing the subject. Clever.</p><p>“Sure, but I’m not letting this go. What happened, Shadow?” Vio asked again. He tugged off his tunic and sweater to reveal the rather ugly wound wrapped with bandages that had started to bleed through. Shadow winced at the sight.</p><p>“Ouch. That looks painful.”</p><p>“Yeah, no shit.” Vio muttered. He let Shadow take off the bandages.</p><p>“I think the wound reopened, just a second.” exactly one minute and forty-six seconds later, the wound was practically gone and Shadow was clearly tired. “Okay, why didn’t you heal it yourself with magic? I’m really tired now.” Shadow asked, leaning against Vio’s shoulder.</p><p>“I’m not as good at healing magic as you are.” Vio reasoned. With the pain nonexistent, he could think more clearly, and looked through his options involving the incident.</p><p>Option A: Ask Shadow now, when he’s not strong enough to just get up and walk away from the conversation. Like ripping off a bandage, it’d be over quickly. Problem: Vio did not want to take advantage of how Shadow helped him at the expense of his physical and magical energy.</p><p>Option B: Ask Shadow later at dinner, which would give Vio some time to think over exactly what to say to get Shadow to tell him what happened. Problem: If the plan backfired, which it had a good chance to do, it would be extremely awkward for the rest of the night.</p><p>Option C: Let it go. It would leave Shadow happy, and it would mean that they could both just move on and pretend it never happened, like they’d been doing for years. Problem: No way in hell was Vio giving up that easily.</p><p>Option D: Look into the incident himself, there had to be some information somewhere, maybe in one of the storage rooms. Besides, Vio was definitely smart enough to piece together what happened by himself. Problem: Vio would feel like he’s betraying Shadow by sneaking around like that.</p><p>He decided to go with option B. While none of the options were very good, option B seemed the best course of action. Why? Because a little awkwardness was fine, it wasn’t like it would ruin their friendship. So, for now, Vio used his telekinesis to get a book from his personal library and started to read, Shadow leaning against his shoulder and most likely about to fall asleep for the next few hours.</p><p>This particular novel was one of Shadow’s favorites, following the story of a boy in green and a magic fairy. It involved alternate realities, time travel, shapeshifting, a marriage at some point, an evil imp, a magical mask, actually quite a few, and a surprising amount of death for a book with only a 12-year-old protagonist.</p><p>Shadow loved this book because of the puzzles in it. There were many the protagonist had to solve. Vio loved it because it was based on a true story, apparently.</p><p>So, Vio read the story silently, Shadow asleep next to him, both content for the next few hours.</p><p>---</p><p>When Shadow woke up, it was dinnertime. Vio was also gone, probably already in the dining room, so Shadow got up and stretched before heading to the dining room himself. When he got there, he saw Vio sitting in his usual seat, reading a book and eating leftovers.</p><p>“Hey.” he said. Vio nodded at him, and Shadow sat next to him.</p><p>“Are you going to eat anything?” Vio asked, glancing up from his book.</p><p>“Nah, I’m not hungry and we don’t need to really eat anyway.” Shadow replied, shrugging in a way that he hoped looked nonchalant.</p><p>“...Okay, then.”</p><p>Awkward silence. Maybe they should have a conversation?</p><p>“Shadow, we need to talk.” Vio spoke up. Oh, boy. He knew this would happen, the argument was still fresh in his mind.</p><p>Never mind. Awkward silence is better.</p><p>“About what?” No, no, just avoid the conversation!</p><p>“You know what, Shadow. Believe me, I’d rather we never have this conversation, but we need to. Also,” he leaned forward and put his chin on the top of his hands, somehow looking threatening and relaxed at the same time. “There is no Din-damned way I’m giving up this easily and you know it. So, please just tell me what happened.”</p><p>“I really, really don’t want to tell you, like, at all. I already explained why.”</p><p>“Shadow, are you afraid I’ll hate you?” Vio wondered aloud.</p><p>“...Sort of?” Shadow shrunk under Vio’s gaze. “Look, it’s not BAD, it’s just… not… good? I-I don’t know.”</p><p>“I won’t hate you, Shadow, you’re my friend. Besides, I have a right to know, as whatever it was happened to me. Keeping it from me isn’t doing either of us favors.” Vio reasoned. He gave a small smile to say, ‘Hey, it’s okay, don’t worry about me being upset.’</p><p>
  <i>Friend. You’re just his friend.</i>
</p><p>“Okay, but please don’t be mad.” Shadow sighed. “You kind of…” he waved his hands around nervously. “Died.”</p><p>Vio stared at him and blinked in surprise. “And when you mean died, you mean--”</p><p>“Heart stopped beating, you stopped breating, yeah.”</p><p>“Oh my.” Vio shook his head, his blond locks of hair covering his eyes slightly. “How-- I mean-- what?”</p><p>“Okay, this is the part you might be mad about.” Shadow sighed. “So, before you died, you were Hylian, a former Hyrulean knight, actually. I befriended you and you decided to live with me in the Fire Temple. And so we were really good friends, and we often spent time in the library. Well, one time, I got up to get… something, I don’t remember, but when I got back you were reaching to get a book off one of the higher shelves-- you couldn’t fly back then, either-- and the shelf fell on you, and I didn’t have time to--” he paused, taking a deep breath before Vio noticed he was starting to panic.</p><p>“A-Anyway, it took me a while, but I was able to bring you back to life through the Dark Mirror, but I had to make you a new body because your old one… uh, started to decay and I had to get rid of it by burning it. So, new body, you’re now a demon, like me, so, yeah. But the bad thing was you didn’t remember anything, so I told you about yourself, how you like to read, you’re really smart, you love researching magic, and you’re my b-- best friend. And that’s… kind of it? And, before you ask, I can tell you what you want to know but you can’t remember things yourself, because those memories died with the body. It was infuriating.”</p><p>When he finished, Vio was just staring at him, his mouth slightly open in shock. “I-- wow, okay. That explains my amnesia.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Shadow nodded. “Is there anything else you want to know? About your past life?”</p><p>“Absolutely. But first…” Vio stood up, snapping his fingers to make the dishes disappear. “We need to do more research in the library about Demise, and possibly Ghirahim and Fi as well.”</p><p>“Okay.” Shadow flashed a fanged smile, glad Vio wasn’t upset. “Let’s go, then.”</p><p>
  <i>Meanwhile, in the jail…</i>
</p><p>Blue sighed. Okay, maybe this would be harder than he thought. When he was just about to give up, though, Red suddenly flew through the bars and hugged him. Blue was surprised, not because of the hug (Red was very affectionate when he was still… uh… breathing), but because he could actually <i>feel</i> it. Red was warm, like the feeling of the sun shining on Blue’s skin that he’d almost forgotten. Not cold at all, like now books described a ghost.</p><p>“Uh… Re-- Kid?”</p><p>“Yeah?” Red hugged him tighter.</p><p>“Two things, one, how can I feel that, and two, why are you hugging me?”</p><p>“Oh, uh. Sorry, do you not want to be hugged?” Red asked, pulling back quickly. “Sorry!”</p><p>“It’s fine, I’m just confused.” Wow, look at you, Blue, being rational.</p><p>“I don’t know why I can hug you. I can’t touch anything else, see?” he tried to touch his cellmate’s face, but his hand passed right through him. “And… I don’t know, I just felt like it. You’re really bright!”</p><p>“I’m… what? Is that a smarts joke, because V-- a friend keeps saying I’m not very smart, or ‘bright,’ I guess.” Blue asked, barely catching himself from saying Vio’s name.</p><p>“That’s so mean! Why would he do that?”</p><p>“Because he’s an asshole. It’s all in good fun, really.”</p><p>“Oh. And, I meant your aura. It’s so bright!”</p><p>“My… aura?”</p><p>“Yeah! Like… okay, I hope this doesn’t sound confusing, but think of a bubble, around you, filled with translucent clouds, okay? And the bubble is glowing and it only stays one color, that’s like… your soul, and the color represents who you are. And the clouds change color with your emotions, or your goals, or experiences, or achievments? Okay?”</p><p>Blue nodded. This explanation, unlike Vio’s long-winded science lectures, actually made sense.</p><p>“So, then there’s your body, in the center of the bubble, but instead of a normal body like you’re used to seeing, it’s like… okay, so there’s your normal body that everyone else sees, and then it’s like there’s a layer on top of it in the general shape of your body, but it’s made up of memories that define who you are.”</p><p>“Okay…”</p><p>“And the more important those memories, the brighter they glow the color of your bubble. So, combine that glow with the glow of the clouds and your bubble keeping it all together, and turn that glow into a string of yarn, looping loosely around the outside of the bubble and tying all of this together. That’s your aura, the bubble and everything inside of it is your soul that creates the aura. Only human souls have an aura, not animals, by the way. Does that all make sense?”</p><p>“Yeah, actually, that was… a really good explanation. Doesn’t the glow hurt, though?”</p><p>“It’s not the glow you’re thinking of, it’s like… a glow I can feel, and not see, you know? Like, have you heard of someone ‘glowing’ with happiness, so that happiness just radiates off them and effects everyone around them? But you can’t actually see it? It’s that.”</p><p>“Cool, cool, so… I’m… brighter?”</p><p>“Yeah! It just sort of draws me in, you know? Your aura is just so bright, it’s way brighter than anyone else’s I’ve seen!”</p><p>“I… Wow.” Blue leaned back against the wall. Red gasped.</p><p>“Blue, look!” he pointed through the bars, down the hallway. “I don’t know if you can see it, since it’s really dim, but-- here!” he grabbed Blue’s hand and Blue’s eyes widened as the room was filled with color-- he suddenly saw what Red was describing, and it was beautiful. Red’s soul was still there, which made sense, but his aura, the string, it was tied to Blue’s, and that… wasn’t normal. Probably. But what really caught Blue’s attention wasn’t Red’s aura, it was a much fainter, much dimmer one in the hallway. It was very small, and came closer, the thing producing the aura whining in pain every now and then as it approached Blue and Red. When Red let go of Blue’s hand, Blue could make out what it was.</p><p>“Is that…” he started.</p><p>Red nodded. “It’s a kitten. With a soul.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Please leave comments/kudos! This chapter is a tiny bit longer, and the chapters will probably get longer as we go on, anyways.</p><p>The kitten was @little-waterboiler's idea, by the way, as was how Vio died.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which there are dragons and cats.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Blue! Blue, where are you?” Green yelled, cupping his hands over his mouth so he could be heard better. “Where is he… BLUE! I’M SORRY, I--” he coughed, his throat still dry. “I’m sorry…”</p><p>He looked around again. He was in the middle of the forest near the bottom of Death Mountain, and he was so, so tired. He should probably rest somewhere. If he remembered correctly, the temple on Death Mountain was deserted, so he could probably stay there, or he could camp out here in the woods. Maybe--</p><p>
  <i>”I’m just saying that taking a walk would be good for you, it’s been hours and we both need some physical activity to stay healthy, even if we aren’t human.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“And I’m saying that I’m fine, I wasn’t the one who freaked out last time.”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Yeah, but at least I try and take care of myself!”</i>
</p><p>Green spun in a circle, trying to find the source of the voices. Sadly, he was too tired to really tell, and he just sat down in exhaustion. Well, more like collapsed, but if anyone asked, Green would say he sat down calmly to rest, not that he collapsed from exhaustion because he overworked himself again.</p><p>He quickly realized his mistake as he heard rustling from the bushes in front of him, but before he could get up, two teenagers stumbled into the small clearing, right in front of Green. The shorter one was pulling the taller one by the hand while the two argued, but stopped when they saw Green. The shorter one immediately bristled, glaring at Green while his eyes flashed a mix of yellow and green. “Who are you?” his voice sounded slightly raspy, but not at all quiet. Green also heard a low growl mixed in with the words, and he got the message loud and clear. ‘Don’t come any closer.’</p><p>“I--” Green’s vision blurred and he fell forward, tasting dirt as his head hit the ground.</p><p>“Oh-- oh sweet Hylia, what--” The same voice gasped, and Green heard footsteps.</p><p>“Calm down. We need to help.” said the other one, his voice the exact opposite. It was light as a feather and seemed to carry a song in the words, very soft but not very emotional.</p><p>“But--”</p><p>“Yes, I know. But still.”</p><p>Green became weightless, and his world turned black.</p><p>---</p><p>When Green came to, he was lying in a strange bed, and he wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and fall back asleep. Before he could, however, someone entered the room, carrying a tray of food.</p><p>“Oh, good, you’re awake.” he said-- the second voice from the forest. Now that Green actually had a good look at him, he didn’t know what to think. He was clearly young, with pale skin, pointed ears distinctive of a Hylian, and long, blonde hair tied neatly in a braid with a few strands loose and framing his face. His eyes, however-- Green didn’t know how to describe them. The ‘whites’ were a pitch black, and his irises glowed a deep purple, with slitted pupils. And they, while still distinctly a young person’s eyes, held something that made Green uneasy. Malice? Anger? No, but just as unsettling.</p><p>Green shook himself out of his thoughts at the boy’s voice again. “You’ve been asleep for a few hours, but Shadow’s been freaking out about whether you were okay, or… not. I brought you some food.” he held out the tray, which had a bowl of soup with some sort of meat floating in it, an apple, and a chunk of bread. “Here.”</p><p>Green took it gratefully, picking up the spoon and trying the soup. “Wow, this is really good! Did… you make this?”</p><p>“Yeah. It’s Cucco soup.” the boy sat down on the edge of the bed. “My name is Vio, by the way.”</p><p>“I’m Green.” Green replied. “Do you and your friend live here yourself? Or are your parents here, too?”</p><p>“I-- uh.” Vio frowned. “We’re by ourselves. Though we do technically have a guardian.”</p><p>“Really? Can I meet her?”</p><p>“You’ll have to ask Shadow that. Finish your meal first, and Shadow was able to make more clothes for you, the ones you’re wearing right now seem messed up.”</p><p>“Oh.” Green looked down and realized what he meant. He was almost completely covered in dirt, as were his clothes. They were also ripped in places from Green running into a pretty nasty thornbush at some point. The wounds he’d gotten from said thornbush didn’t hurt anymore, though, which was strange. “Thanks.” Vio nodded and left the room, and Green continued eating.</p><p>After he’d showered and changed, finding that the cuts hadn’t just stopped hurting, but had vanished altogether, he’d decided to explore. Maybe he’d run into the two boys’ guardian, as well. Most of the temple was just empty hallways and boring stone courtyards there for no reason, but Green still found some things of interest.</p><p>The first room he saw was what he guessed was the library, as it was filled with books. There were large stacks of them on one table near the corner, along with pages of notes and reminders in a both elegant and messy scrawl.</p><p>The second was a bedroom. There was a large bed with a translucent black canopy and pitch black sheets, and a small bookshelf with an armchair and reading lamp in one corner. The room opened up onto a balcony that looked out over the whole of Hyrule.</p><p>The room would be considered royalty-worthy, if it wasn’t covered in nick-knacks and trinkets that made no sense. There were dolls and other toys, books, scraps of paper, drawings, pencils, even jewelry. Green would have pegged this as a little kid’s room if he didn’t know that the two people he’d met so far were roughly-17-year-old boys, definitely not little kids.</p><p>The third room was also a bedroom, and was much neater. It was almost exactly the same in the layout of the first room, except instead of a balcony it had a fireplace, and instead of black, the room was purple. The only thing that seemed out of place was that a desk in the corner was covered in notes, doodles, and books. Some of the notes that caught Green’s eye read:</p><p>
  <i>”Demise Ghirahim Fi Master Sword research”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“If you throw a Cucco hard enough will it actually fly”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Ask Shadow about the dragon eggs”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Adventure Note: Avoid east woods, contains Hinox camp”</i>
</p><p>
  <i>“Remember to actually check on boiling water when cooking”</i>
</p><p>The fourth and final room he checked that was of any interest was a room with nothing in it except a large mirror with a fancy metal frame and pitch black glass. Green walked towards it curiously, and as he got closer, dark beings seemed to whisper in his ear promises of fame, fortune, power. <i>’Come,’</i> they said, <i>’Join us.’</i> He reached a hand out towards the mirror, his fingers brushing against the inky black surface and shadows began to slowly curl around his fingers, drawing him in…</p><p>“What are you DOING?” yelled a voice. Green felt clawed hands grab his shoulders and he fell away from the mirror, landing on whoever was behind him. “Ow…” the person stood up, brushing himself off, and glared at Green, his eyes a bright blue. “Don’t go near that mirror!”</p><p>“What was that?” Green asked, standing up himself and staring at the mirror. The voices were silent, as if they’d never been there. “I heard…”</p><p>“Broken promises? Yeah.” the boy nodded. He was just as unsettling as Vio was, but in a different way. He had a Gerudo complexion, but instead of the telltale red hair most Gerudo had, his was dark purple, with yellow bangs. His nails were painted black and were sharp, like claws, and his eyes were glowing a bright red. Green could have sworn his eyes were blue before, but that apparently wasn’t the case. But what really made Green nervous was that this boy seemed to know him, when they locked eyes then Green could sense that the younger boy knew everything about him, his fears, his secrets, what he loved, what he hated, like he was staring into his very soul.</p><p>“Why did the mirror… do that?”</p><p>“Do you want the long explanation, or the really long explanation?”</p><p>“I guess just the long version?”</p><p>“Okay, then.” the boy grinned, showing fangs. Green realized, with a start, that this was Shadow. “So, basically, a long time ago, so like, 20-so years, the Dark Mirror was a source of dark energy everywhere. I was made from some of the darkness of the mirror, which means, yes, I am a demon, but not, like, the really bad kind. But back then I was power-hungry and I had this evil boss who ordered me to, like, destroy Hyrule and stuff. So, I did that, and I got a friend, Vio, but he died but I brought him back using the Dark Mirror so now he’s a demon too-- he was previously a Hylian, by the way-- and so, that happened, but by then my boss just disappeared, and the mirror grew more and more agitated that no one was using it so it decided to lure people in by giving them promises it’d never keep, and so we keep it in this room gathering dust because we can’t destroy it, since it’s our life force, no matter how much we hate it.”</p><p>Green blinked. “O...kay.”</p><p>He and Shadow just stood there, staring at each other, until…</p><p>“Wanna meet my mom?”</p><p>“Your what?” Green asked. “I thought you were made of magic.”</p><p>“Okay, not my mom, more like… mother-figure? She’s really cool though.” Shadow clarified, tilting his hand from side to side.</p><p>“I would like to meet your mother.”</p><p>“Cool, let me get Vio then.” With that, Shadow disappeared, melting into the, well, shadows. Green leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment, before opening them again, hearing Shadow and Vio reappear in the room. “Let’s go, old man!”</p><p>“I’m only thirty-seven.” Green argued, standing up straight.</p><p>“Yeah, you’re old!” Shadow said, grinning again and leaving the room. Vio and Green quickly followed, and it was silently awkward for a moment.</p><p>“So, if Shadow has a mother, is she your mother too, or…?” Green trailed off, looking at Vio.</p><p>“We’re not related, but I do also see her as a mother figure, yes.” Vio nodded. “The mom-friend, if you will.”</p><p>“What’s she like?”</p><p>“Her name is Skirrsa… as for what she’s like personality-wise, and appearance? You’ll see.” with that, Vio turned away from him.</p><p>Green was starting to get frustrated with how Vio just dodged questions. At least Shadow was open.</p><p>Finally, the three reached a large set of double-doors, made of pitch-black stone with so many locks it was unable to be opened. Shadow just snapped his fingers and the doors opened, though, the locks, uh, unlocking as they did. Green followed the two demons through a dark corrider, and soon he couldn’t see as there was no light source. His two companions seemed to realize this as he felt a hand resting on each of his shoulders, guiding him forward.</p><p>Eventually the group reached a large cavern that had a small amount of light in it, and Green looked around, confused. “Where is she? Your mom?”</p><p>“Oh, she’s here.” Shadow said. “Hey, Skirrsa, we brought a friend this time!”</p><p>A low roar sounded throughout the caverns and Green screamed. Suddenly, right in front of him, was a dragon.</p><p>It was beautiful, not at all like in the books Green read at home, or in the legends. It didn’t try and eat him, or breath fire, its claws weren’t even that sharp. The dragon’s smooth scales were pitch black, with purple on the tips, its eyes glowing yellow and fangs barely showing in its mouth. Its tail swished around behind it in precise motions as it stared right at Green.</p><p>Just like Shadow, he felt it staring into his soul.</p><p>“Is… is your mom on its back, or…?”</p><p>“Woooooow.” Shadow drawled. “Green, this is Skirrsa. Skirrsa, this is Green. He’s nice.”</p><p>Oh.</p><p>
  <i>Oh.</i>
</p><p>“Hi… Skirrsa.” Green gave a small wave, and Skirrsa growled at him. Green flinched. “I don’t think she likes me.”</p><p>“No, she’s just overprotective of Shadow. It took her forever to warm up to me.”</p><p>“Okay… can I pet her?”</p><p>“You can try.” Shadow said. Seeing the look on Green’s face, he quickly corrected himself. “She’ll let you, she just might try and nip at your fingers or something, it’s fine!”</p><p>Green tentatively reached out a hand towards the dragon’s muzzle and ran his fingers over her scales. She didn’t bite at him, or even growl, instead leaning into the touch. Green grinned. Vio’s eyes widened. “Huh. I guess she actually does like you. And is overprotective. Try touching Shadow’s shoulder.” The evil grin on Vio’s face made Green not want to do that, but he did it anyway. Skirrsa growled at him with a warning and Shadow cackled at the fear on Green’s face.</p><p>“Wow, Green, she’d never actually hurt you! You look like you just pissed yourself, oh my gosh!”</p><p>---</p><p>Blue continued staring at the kitten. It was covered in dirt so he couldn’t tell its real color, and through its fur Blue could see its ribs. It looked very sick, and Blue’s heart broke a little when he heard a broken mix between a sob and a meow.</p><p>“I--” Blue rushed forward so he was right near the bars of his cell, and stretched his fingers through the bars. “Here, kitty… come here, I won’t hurt you.” he muttered. The kitten mewled again and its little paws padded forward towards Blue. It sniffed his hand and the leaned its tiny head into it, purring. Blue grinned. “Kid, we need to help this kitten.”</p><p>“Yeah, of course!” Red replied, clapping his hands together. It-- she, actually-- looks small enough to fit through the bars, we can get her in here and keep her safe!”</p><p>“Okay.” Blue drew his hand back and stepped away from the bars. “Come here, kitty, just… go through the bars. Okay?” the kitten stared up at him with big purple eyes, then looked at the bars. She quickly darted in between them, running towards Blue who quickly picked her up and held her near his chest, sort of like a baby. “Kid, she’s so cute.”</p><p>“Yes, she is, what should we name her?”</p><p>Blue thought for a moment. “Violet.”</p><p>“Ooh, a color! And the color of her aura, too!”</p><p>“Yeah…” he watched the kitten curl up in his arms and close her eyes, purring softly as she quickly fell asleep. A few minutes later, Blue fell asleep too.</p><p>---</p><p>Blue was woken up by a loud crash, and he jolted awake to see his cell door wide open, and a pile of bodies next to it. “What--” he looked around and saw Violet sitting next to the open door, looking at Blue with her wide eyes and her tail swishing through the air behind her. “What happened?”</p><p>“That damn kitten happened.” muttered a guard, huddled in the corner and clutching a spear like it was a lifeline. “Those guards came to try and take you away and that-- that THING just walked up to them and they fell unconscious. It’s a demon, I tell you, a demon possessing a cat!” with that, the guard quickly ran out of the jail. Blue stared at the kitten, then at the bodies, then quickly scooped Violet up in his arms and grabbed the keys on the floor. He unlocked the other man’s cell and looked around.</p><p>“RED! Where are you?” he yelled.</p><p>Red appeared, wide-eyed. “Blue, are you going to leave?”</p><p>“Yeah, duh.” Blue said, rolling his eyes.</p><p>“Can I go with you?” Red whispered. “I can’t go on my own, I need to be attached to something else that isn’t my skeleton to leave.”</p><p>“So… what are you going to be attached to?”</p><p>“That thing, right there.” Red pointed to something next to his body, a golden rod with a red jewel on the end, glowing faintly. “Just carry it with you and I can come along.” Blue nodded and grabbed the gold rod, slipping it into his belt loop. Red grinned at him and disappeared, and Blue felt him nearby-- he was now connected to whatever the golden rod was.</p><p>Blue ran out of the jail as fast as he could, grabbing his things from a hook on the wall. He continued running out of the town, straight into the forest towards Death Mountain.</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>What's goin on with that darn cat, I ask as if I didn't already know since I'm the writer.</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos, I especially love hearing people's theories on what happens! They're very enjoyable! My Tumblr is @singingvio if you want to ask questions about the AU. ^^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The gang's back together again and Blue destroys a training dummy (sort of).</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: mention of a head injury that led to a concussion that led to some memory loss. Also stabbing.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay, okayokayokay, Violet, you might just be a cat, but I’m pretty sure you’re magic since you’re an animal with a soul and also you terrified that guard, please tell me where to go.” Blue muttered, looking at the tiny cat. Violet stared back up at him, then jumped out of Blue’s arms and started running into the dark woods. “Hey, wait, come back, damnit!” Blue chased the kitten into the woods, until finally catching up to her. She was just… sitting there, in front of a giant tree. She looked at Blue, gave a small meow, and walked into the tree, vanishing. “What the--”</p><p>Blue put his hand on the tree and was pulled in, and he stumbled out the other side barely catching his balance. “Oh, my gosh, Blue, are you okay?” asked a voice. Blue turned to see Red, floating in front of him with his arms out worriedly. “Blue?”</p><p>“Urg.” Blue muttered. “What happened?”</p><p>“Well, Violet somehow walked through a tree and you followed her like an idiot and now we’re in a garden.” Red said. “I think that’s obvious.”</p><p>“I think I liked it better when you were alive, then you weren’t so sassy.” Blue muttered. Red just rolled his eyes. Blue stood up straight and looked around. They were indeed in a garden, a rather nice one. The flower beds were filled with black roses, and violets, and gardenias. While the gardenia’s bright white colors and vibrant petals contrasted with the rest of the dark garden, full of purples, blacks, and dark reds, they were beautiful and they made Blue want to stay in the garden forever, as weird as that sounded.</p><p>“Where is this garden? Did we teleport?” Blue asked, mostly to himself. Red answered the question anyway, along with his own.</p><p>“We definitely teleported, and as for where we are… I think we’re at Death Mountain, or at least a part of it. See, look, lots of smoke.” he pointed in the distance, where there was indeed smoke. For some reason, though, it wasn’t in the garden, or anywhere near the two, actually. “Also, I’m pretty sure this building is the Fire Temple. But, uh, where’s Violet?”</p><p>His question immediately was answered by a soft ‘mew’ from the flower beds. Blue looked around and spotted the little kitten playing in the violets, rolling around the flowerbeds like a dog might. Not a cat. Nevertheless, she was clearly content playing in the flowers. “Why did she bring us here? How? What? Why is she playing with the flowers? We just teleported? That is way more important.” Red asked. Blue just shrugged.</p><p>“Do you think we should… explore? The temple?” he asked, pointing at the building itself. “It might hold clues to what’s going on.”</p><p>“Yeah.” Red nodded in agreement and Blue gently picked up Violet, who didn’t protest much and just curled up in his arms, purring softly. Red disappeared, once again hiding in what Blue had named the Fire Rod, because of that giant red gem on the tip.</p><p>Blue walked up to the doors of the Fire Temple, and opened them cautiously. He looked around the surprisingly well-lit hallways before venturing further into the temple. Before he could get far, however, Violet leapt out of his arms and ran down the passageway. “Hey, Violet, wait!” Blue called, chasing after the cat. He skidded to a halt when he saw where she was, though.</p><p>The people were in a room that looked a lot like a library, huddled around a table. One of them was sitting on it, actually. Green was one of these three people, and the other two Blue had to pinch himself to make sure were real.</p><p>Sitting on the table was Shadow, laughing with the other two and flipping through a history book. And sitting in the chair, with eyes wide as he stared at the cat who had just leapt into his lap, was Vio.</p><p>“Green? What is this?” he asked cautiously, picking the kitten up by the scruff of her neck. When he turned to Green, Blue saw that his eyes were very different (As was his hair, but on the adventure everyone had collectively agreed Vio would have a braid eventually so that wasn’t very surprising).</p><p>“That’s apparently a cat, Vio.” Shadow answered instead. Blue tapped the Fire Rod and Red appeared. Blue gestured inside the library and Red’s eyes widened.</p><p>“I know them!” he whispered. Blue grinned, then stopped. Red was regaining his memories, apparently, but why now?</p><p>“We can’t go in. Shadow’s evil, and Vio probably is too if they’re hanging out. And Green… I don’t trust him anymore.” Blue whispered. But before he could sneak away, Vio’s ears twitched and he stared right at the door, right at Blue and Red. To Blue’s dismay, he got up and slowly walked over to the door, opening it. </p><p>“Hello?” Vio asked, looking at Blue and Red. “Who are you?”</p><p>Blue stared at him. There was no way he was the only one who actually had memories, right?</p><p>Shadow appeared behind Blue and Blue yelled in alarm, drawing his sword and managing to hit Shadow in the shoulder before the demon could dodge. Shadow screamed and everyone looked at him, at his wound that had started bleeding something that looked more like ink than blood, then at Blue.</p><p>“What the FUCK?” Shadow yelled. Blue’s eyes widened.</p><p>“Sorry, it was out of reflex, and you--” he stuttered. Shadow stalked forward, clearly ready to strangle Blue.</p><p>“I WHAT?”</p><p>“Stop, both of you!” Vio stepped in between them, putting a hand on Shadow’s uninjured shoulder while still holding the cat, who’s eyes were wide as she stared right at Blue. “What are you two doing here? This mountain has been deserted for almost twenty years.” he asked, looking at Blue and Red.</p><p>“Uh, I, we--”</p><p>“We were looking for our cat, she ran in here.”</p><p>Vio held up Violet. “This cat?”</p><p>“Yeah!” Vio sighed and handed her to Blue, who gratefully took her and looked over her for signs of injury.</p><p>Vio thought for a moment. “Do you two have homes to return to?”</p><p>Blue opened his mouth to reply, yes, he did, then remembered that he’d been gone for twenty years. He probably didn’t have a home in the castle anymore. “...No.”</p><p>“Well…” Vio looked at Shadow, then at Green, who nodded, then back at Blue and Red. “I… suppose you two can stay here. You can stay in Green’s room, he has two beds in there. But don’t think you’re off the hook for attacking Shadow with no provocation whatsoever.”</p><p>“He’s probably fine, he’s like a demon or something.” Blue muttered.</p><p>“I can still feel pain, though!” Shadow argued back.</p><p>Blue just rolled his eyes. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to seeing Green again, but at least he wouldn’t be homeless now. And he had Red.</p><p>“Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.” Green said. Blue had no choice, really, but to follow him down the long hallways to a bedroom that was… pretty nice, actually. Better than the knight’s quarters that Link had stayed in. “I sleep here, you can stay in that bed.” he pointed to a bed opposite another, and the one Blue had was farther from the fireplace in the room but closer to a window.</p><p>Blue just sat down on the bed and took out his knife. The one he’d taken from that thief just a few days ago. Had it really been only one day? He twirled the knife’s handle in his hand, examining the blade. It was pretty well-made, not something a common thief carried around at all. It wasn’t made of silver, but it looked like it. The handle had many engravings on it, some that made sense (like the constellation of Din on the knife’s hilt), and some that looked more like runes that Blue wasn’t able to read. He could read some from Link’s history classes but not  a lot of them. <i>’Something moonlight something something blade, something something something something whatever something something needs, something something something something price.’</i> Maybe he could ask Vio, he was a nerd.</p><p>“Excuse me.” said a voice. Blue quickly hid the knife, shoving it under the blankets. He looked up at the speaker to see it was Vio. “First of all, Shadow is fine, if you were wondering.”</p><p>“I wasn’t, but okay.” Blue shrugged. That monster deserved it anyways.</p><p>“Second, I don’t know your names, you never told me. Green says he knows you, but he forgot your name… I think it was because he hit his head in the forest. That can result in a bit of a faulty memory, and he hit pretty hard. So? What is your name? And your ghost companion’s.” Vio asked. Blue blinked. He really didn’t remember, and if Green didn’t either…</p><p>He weighed his options.</p><p>Tell Vio his real name and hope he remembers.<br/>Tell Vio a fake name and wait to see if he’s really trustworthy before revealing the truth.<br/>Don’t tell him anything, and hope he leaves.</p><p>Of course C was out of the question. He was pretty sure Vio didn’t remember, either, because Blue looked the same as he did when they’d formed from the Four Sword, so he was pretty recognizable.</p><p>So that left option B.</p><p>“Excuse me? You’ve been quiet for a while now.”</p><p>“Oh, uh, sorry, I…” Blue wracked his brain for an excuse. “I zone out easily?”</p><p>Vio raised an eyebrow. He probably didn’t believe him, and when he just shook his head Blue let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, then. What’s your name?”</p><p>“I’m, uh… Jarek, and the ghost is… Caleb.” he said. Vio nodded.</p><p>“O...kay. Well, do either of you fight?” he asked. Blue shrugged.</p><p>“Yeah. I’ve got a knife and a sword. And this Fire Rod, too.” he said. “And my friend can see souls, but I don’t know what else he can do.” Vio smiled, which was kind of hard for Blue to process. The straight-faced ‘smart Link’ was actually smiling.</p><p>“Good. Shadow, Green, and I were going to train. I think you and Caleb could benefit from it.” he said. Blue nodded.</p><p>“Okay, we’ll come with. What about Violet?”</p><p>“The… cat?”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“She can come, too, as long as she stays out of the way.” Vio shrugged, turning and walking back out the door. “Follow me.” Vio led Blue and Red down yet another long hallway (seriously, how big was this temple?) until they reached a large set of wooden doors. “This is the training room.” he said, opening the doors. Blue’s eyes widened.</p><p>The room was huge, and full of stuff. On one wall was a bunch of targets, all in the shape of a different monster and labeled differently. The largest one read, ‘Hinox,’ and the smallest read ‘Bokoblin.’ On another wall was a bunch of training dummies made of wood, which Green was hacking away at with a wooden training sword. It seemed that he wasn’t even a little bit rusty with it, either.</p><p>In one corner close to the door had stacks of crates, filled with what seemed like personal belongings. Green’s cape and his shoes, too, for some reason, some jewelry Blue could only guess was Shadow’s, and a tunic that was also probably Shadow’s, as he had his tunic off while training with what seemed like a bunch of throwing needles used by the Sheikah and a pitch black sword. There were also crates filled with training weapons-- wooden swords, bows and arrows, other weapons that looked a bit more like toys, even some simple wooden runestones probably used for magic.</p><p>In the other corner was a large circle with candles and salts around it, big enough to fit almost ten people in it. It was probably a magic circle, by the looks of it, and next to it were multiple books on spells and charms.</p><p>“Where do you want to start? Long-range weapons, close-range weapons, or magic?” Vio asked, unbraiding his hair quickly and putting it in a messy bun instead so it wouldn’t get in the way. Blue thought for a moment. He didn’t want to say he was bad at either of him, even though he knew the answer. So, he’d train with the one he was most familiar with.</p><p>“I guess close range, I’m pretty good at that. I’ve never used magic before, and my aim is somewhat poor. I’m pretty good at using a sword and sheild, though.” Blue said. Vio nodded, grabbing the runestones from the crate of weapons along with a wooden sword, tossing the sword at Blue.</p><p>“Here. You wouldn’t want to damage your actual sword training.” he said, opening the back of runestones and pulling a few out. They were in the same language as on the knife, and from how Vio was muttering the words, he could read them well. “Put any belongings you don’t want hindering your fighting in one of the crates.”</p><p>Blue nodded, taking off his hat, adventure pouch and sack with his other clothes, and shoes because why not, Green wasn’t wearing any, either. He considered taking off his shirt too, like Shadow, but decided against it. He got cold easily. He held on to Violet. “Where should I put the cat?” he asked. Vio glanced at it, tossing his own belongings (his fingerless gloves, the outer part of his tunic, the necklace Blue didn’t realize he was wearing, and the two bracelets around his ankles) into one of the vacant crates.</p><p>“Just… put her in one of the crates and put another crate on top as a lid so she can’t get out and injure herself?” Vio suggested. “The crates have openings between the wood planks, so she’ll have plenty of light and air, and you can check on her to make sure she’s still okay.”</p><p>Blue nodded and did as he suggested, putting the little kitten in one of the crates and grabbing another one to put on top of it, making a little box that he could see though easily. He saw Violet sit down in the box and quickly fall asleep and nodded to himself. Vio looked at him. “Where is Caleb?” he asked, looking around for Red.</p><p>Blue shrugged. “He stays in the Fire Rod sometimes, I think he’s sleeping.” not waiting for an answer from Vio, Blue adjusted his grip on the training sword and ran at one of the training dummies, starting to hit it as much as he could. Green stopped his own attacks and walked over to him.</p><p>“So, uh, what’s your name again? I forgot it when I… you know what, never mind.” he said, hitting his own training dummy.</p><p>“Jarek. The ghost’s name is Caleb.” he said, hitting the dummy’s neck, then stabbing it in the chest. Green nodded.</p><p>“Oh, okay.” he said. For a few more minutes, the only sounds in the room were the determined shouts of the group as they trained and the sound of wood hitting wood (And occasionally the telltale cracks of lightning and fire magic, but a glance at Vio created more questions than answers about that.)</p><p>“Look, Jarek, I’m really sorry about what happened.” Green started. Blue stopped for a moment, lowering his sword and looking at the now-older man. He’d gotten a spear at some point, replacing his sword with it, and was now leaning on it tiredly.</p><p>“What happened?” Blue asked, already knowing the answer.</p><p>“You know, when I made you upset. I don’t know what I did, but--”</p><p>“You abandoned everyone, you were selfish, that’s what happened.” Blue interrupted. His anger about the incident returned, but instead of continuing to talk like he wanted, he turned that anger into energy and hit the dummy hard enough to knock its head off, ignoring Green for the next hour.</p><p>---</p><p>After almost two hours of training, Green told everyone to stop. Despite Vio (and possibly Shadow) not even remembering him and Blue still being upset, they all listened to him. Blue grabbed his stuff and turned to Vio. “Is there a shower or something here?”</p><p>Vio nodded. “Yes, there’s one next to this room.” he said. “Multiple people can use it at once… Think a hallway, and a bunch of doors, each door being a different shower-slash-bathtub, so not exactly a public bath-house as those are usually multiple large baths for many people, but just a house with only bathrooms instead of like, kitchens and bedrooms and stuff.” he said. Blue nodded slowly, he understood somewhat.</p><p>“Okay.” he and everyone else walked to where Vio was talking about, and it was indeed just a long hallway with many doors that were just bathrooms. There were seven doors, and when Blue opened one he saw it was a larger-than-normal bathroom, the bathtub/shower was huge and took up more than half of the bathroom, and nearest to the door was a normal-sized sink and toilet. There was also a closet filled with white, fluffy towels and what looked like simple white clothes. This was confirmed when he asked Vio.</p><p>“Yeah, I just made some in case someone doesn’t have a change of clothes with them.” he said. “They’re magic, so they can change size to fit the wearer as a bonus.” Blue frowned.</p><p>“Why do you have so much stuff here, isn’t it just you and Shadow?”</p><p>“Well…” Vio trailed off. “Now it is, yes, but you need to be prepared, right?”</p><p>Blue didn’t buy that explanation for a second, but he just ignored it and closed the door, proceeding to take the first proper shower he’s had in a long time.</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, there's chapter six! I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave comments/kudos, what you liked/disliked! ^^ (If you're wondering how Shadow's doing, he's fine, he healed himself up, but he's still pissed. So is Vio, but he's trying to be polite.)</p><p>And yeah Blue remembered to get Violet, he didn't leave her trapped in the crate. She's just kind of waiting outside the bathroom-hallway-thing now.</p><p>Jarek - Blue<br/>Caleb - Red</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Shadow has a chat with Blue.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: Death threats and death mentions</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Blue got out of the showers, he quickly pulled on the clean clothes there (just a simple white T-shirt and pants) and left with his belongings in his arms. He kicked open the door and held it open with his foot for Violet, who followed him to his room that he now shared with Green.</p><p>Blue tossed his stuff on his bed and dusted off his hands. He looked at all of it, then at the room. He could ask Vio where to put some of it later (and also where to wash his clothes). Somewhat regretting not being able to put anything away, he took out his dirty clothes and folded them neatly into a pile, putting them at the foot of his bed for the time being. He took his sword and hung it on a hook in the wall, and put his adventure pouch beneath it. He tied the bag that previously held his tunic around his waist again and put the fire rod in it. He looked at the setup around his bed and nodded to himself. Good enough.</p><p>He left the bedroom, Violet still at his heels, and went to the library. Red appeared as soon as he entered, arms crossed with an innocent expression on his face.</p><p>“Hey, Blue, what did you do while I was sleeping?” he asked. Blue searched the shelves, trying to find out the organization system and succeeding. The books were sectioned off by genre, the genres in alphabetical order.</p><p>“Vio invited me to train with him and the others. Green tried to talk to me, but I didn’t want to talk. I beheaded a training dummy.” he said. Red nodded.</p><p>“Cool! Do you think I can fight, too?” he asked. Blue shrugged, finding the medical books rather easily and pulling one from the shelf that looked like it wasn’t full of words he wouldn’t understand because he only had the intelligence of a 14-year-old even though he was *technically* an adult because he was frozen for so long.</p><p>“Can you physically touch things that aren’t me?”</p><p>“Well… I sort of remember what happened now, so I think I can touch Vio, Shadow, and Green, too because of the connection, but that’s kind of it. What are you looking for?” Red asked, looking over Blue’s shoulder. “‘Types of memory loss?’ Oh! Are you trying to find out why no one else can remember stuff?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Blue said, reading the book. It was written in Old Hylian, not the modern Hylian he knew how to read, but he could still make out most of it.</p><p>
  <i>”Unnatural memory loss is not very common in Hyrule, but can occur in multiple ways. Regular memory loss can occur from injuries to certain areas of the brain, but unnatural memory loss is created through magic or other means. For example, someone could forcefully take your memory away using a spell. Other ways to gain unnatural memory loss is if someone were to die in a traumatic way and their spirit being unable to connect with their past or being damaged. Ones spirit can be damaged by bringing the person back to life in a different body, which would leave the person’s general personality, interests, and emotions intact but their memories destroyed along with their old body.”</i>
</p><p>That could explain what had happened to Vio and Red, and why Red was remembering things again. Because Red’s spirit was able to connect with its past by befriending Blue, he was starting to remember his past. Vio looked so different probably because he’d died and come back to life, but how he’d died Blue didn’t want to know. He was curious on who brought him back and why. He guessed Shadow.</p><p>
  <i>”There is also a type of memory loss where the person will try so hard to forget what happened, possibly because it is traumatic, that they will actually forget it, ‘locking away’ the memories in the back of their mind and keeping it there, usually refusing to open it back up unless they are forced to. Even if they try to reach the memories, studies have shown that they can’t unless it’s a life or death situation that relies on the specific memories they’ve hidden.”</i>
</p><p>And that was probably what had happened to Green. He’d wanted to move on, probably because the quest was really difficult and also… pretty traumatic, now that Blue thought about it. It had probably messed all of them up psychologically, and it made sense that Green would ‘lock up’ his memories like that, even if it was unintentional.</p><p>“Hey.” said a voice. Blue jumped and shoved the book back onto the shelf, turning around to see Shadow, leaning on the opposite shelf and staring at him. Now that Blue got a good look at him, he noticed differences from when he’d tried to fight him on the quest. His skin was no longer chalk white, but instead a gerudo complexion, and his hair was a darker, almost black purple instead of the more vibrant purple Blue remembered him having. The tips of his bangs were yellow, and his eyes were as well, instead of red. His hair was longer, too, wavy and barely touching his shoulders.</p><p>He wasn’t wearing the tunic anymore, instead wearing a loose black shirt with long sleeves and white pants that were a bit too long. Probably pyjamas of some sort. His hair was wet, too, meaning he’d probably just gotten out of the shower as well.</p><p>“How… how long have you been here?” Blue asked warily. Shadow shrugged.</p><p>“Not long. Listen, <i>Jarek</i>, I need to talk to you.” he said, his gaze turning from more laid-back-but-still-alert to I’m-trying-to-decide-between-killing-you-or-just-scarring-you-for-life. Before Blue could protest, Shadow grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the library into a room Blue hasn’t seen before. It had only one thing in it, a pitch black mirror that Blue immediately backed away from once Shadow let go of his arm.</p><p>Shadow closed the door and turned to face Blue. “Pay attention.” he said, snarling at him angrily (which got Blue a good look at his razor-sharp teeth). “I know who you are.”</p><p>“Yeah, I told you guys my name… I’m Jarek.” Blue said. Shadow narrowed his eyes and Blue internally kicked himself. He knew someone would find out eventually and he knew it would be Shadow but that didn’t mean he WANTED anyone to find out! He wanted to stay hidden and gather information!</p><p>“No, it’s not! That is NOT your real name and we BOTH know it!” Shadow yelled. “Tell me your REAL name!”</p><p>“Fine!” Blue yelled back, getting more and more angry at how Shadow had just dragged him into a vacant room just to yell at him because he lied about his name. “I’m Blue, the ‘strength’ of Link! And Red’s the heart, Vio’s the mind, and Green’s the soul, okay?”</p><p>Shadow nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.” he said, stepping forward towards Blue. “Why did you lie about that? I know that you knew you’d be found out, so why? What are you planning?”</p><p>“I…” Blue wracked his brain for an answer. He didn’t really know why he wanted his identity hidden, he just didn’t want to tell everyone his real name. “I’m not planning anything!”</p><p>Shadow stopped, staring at him, and Blue thought he’d calmed down. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Shadow suddenly rushed forward, shoving Blue against the wall and grabbing his throat with a clawed hand. “I don’t believe that for a fucking <i>second</i>.” he growled, his eyes glowing a bright blue. Blue grabbed at Shadow’s hand, <i>he couldn’t breath!</i></p><p>“I KNOW you’re planning something, and I’m going to say this once, and only once. I’ll keep your identity a secret from Vio and Green, only because I know that if Vio finds out you actually did lie, he’ll be crushed. But if you try ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING suspicious, I will kill you, burn your body to ashes, steal your soul, and throw it into the volcano for you to burn for eternity. You will NOT hurt Vio… or anyone else, do you understand?” he asked. Blue nodded quickly, and to his relief, Shadow let go of his neck and disappeared, melting into the shadows of the room.</p><p>Blue slowly got up, rubbing his neck. It didn’t feel like he’d have any really bad injuries, probably just some bruises. He glared at the spot where Shadow had disappeared and left the room, quickly running back to his bedroom.</p><p>He took Shadow’s threat seriously, he knew he meant it, and he’d need to eventually convince Shadow he really wasn’t planning anything. He also had other things to think about. Blue walked over to the desk near his bed and searched the drawers before finally finding a notebook small enough to fit in his adventure pouch. He found a pen and opened the notebook, writing a short list.</p><p>Confront Shadow about the whole planning thing<br/>Figure out the relationship dynamics between everyone in the temple<br/>Decipher what’s on knife handle<br/>Learn some sort of magic<br/>Find out why everything is happening and what exactly happened<br/>Get new clothes<br/>Get Red a body?<br/>What is going on?<br/>Find Zelda</p><p>With that list done, Blue read through it. What should he do first?</p><p>For now, he should probably just stay at the Temple where the only threat was probably just Shadow and complete as much as he could before Shadow assumed he was planning on hurting someone ‘again’ and killed him.</p><p>---</p><p>Shadow reappeared in the garden and started to walk through them again, making sure all the plants were doing well. When he finished with that, he just leaned against the wall and sat down, thinking. He thought Green turning up, not remembering anything as an adult wasn’t too suspicious, but Blue and Red showing up later, and Blue lying about their names? That was extremely suspicious and Shadow didn’t like it.</p><p>Blue was almost certainly planning something, but Shadow could be wrong… No, no, he wasn’t wrong. He couldn’t afford to be wrong. He *wanted* Blue to be planning something so he’d have the chance to take him out before Vio got hurt. Er, and anyone else that was on his side, of course.</p><p>The question was, what was he planning? He could be trying to kill everyone in the Temple, but no matter how hotheaded Blue was that didn’t seem likely. He could be trying to find information, but what? They didn’t really have much to hide. He could be trying to just kill Shadow and possibly Vio as well, which made sense and what Shadow guessed was the right answer. Or--</p><p>Shadow paused in his thoughts at the sound of footsteps. They were somewhat light, but not light enough to be Vio. They also weren’t loud like Blue’s. They definitely weren’t Red’s, as he was dead and couldn’t make footsteps. That left one other person.</p><p>Shadow stood up, brushing himself off as he walked towards the source of the footsteps. Sure enough, Green was there, standing in the middle of the garden and staring at the sky, holding something in his hands. When Shadow got closer, he saw it was a photograph. “What’s that?” he asked quietly. Green jumped, but relaxed when he saw who it was.</p><p>“Oh, Shadow. You startled me.” he said, laughing a bit. He didn’t look or sound like the Green Shadow knew, or sort of knew. But he acted almost the same as Shadow had seen from the Dark Mirror years ago. “What’s up?”</p><p>“I was just… taking a walk. What are you doing?” Shadow replied, a bit awkwardly. He wasn’t technically lying, right?</p><p>“Looking at constellations.” Green answered. “My son loves the stars.”</p><p>“Son?” Shadow asked.</p><p>“Yeah. See?” he showed Shadow the picture. On the far left was Green, next to him a boy who looked about ten years old, with a blue shirt and no shoes. Next to the boy was a girl with a knee-length dress-tunic-thing and gerudo-style pants. On the far right was a stunning gerudo woman, who was surprisingly only a little bit taller than Green. Strange, since the Gerudo are usually extremely tall. The woman held a baby with vibrant red hair in her arms. They were all smiling.</p><p>“That’s Esmerelda, my wife. The baby is Ruby, the girl is our daughter Sky and the boy is Link.” he said. Shadow thought about the names. Despite not knowing anything anymore, Green’s subconscious probably gave him the names from what Shadow assumed were his locked-up memories.</p><p>“The baby’s cute.” Shadow stated. He leaned forward a bit to get a better look at the picture. “She’s so little…” Green smiled.</p><p>“Yeah. She’s about… three months old now.” Green said.</p><p>“Green, the Gerudo are usually very tall, right? Much taller than Hylians?” Shadow asked, hoping he didn’t offend the older man.</p><p>“Yeah, usually. You’re wondering why Esmerelda is about the height of a Hylian.” Green said. Shadow nodded. “Her entire family is just short for Gerudo-- which means just barely above average for Hylians.” he explained.</p><p>“Oh, okay. I was just curious.” Green nodded.</p><p>“I’m curious about something as well, Shadow.” he said.</p><p>“What do you want to know?”</p><p>“Multiple things. First, You can shapeshift, right?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Does that apply to just appearance, or also shape and size? Is it unlimited?”</p><p>“I can change my appearance with almost no effort, and I can… stretch myself, I guess? Like a rubber band. But actually transforming to look like, say, an animal is difficult.” Shadow explained. Green nodded.</p><p>“Okay. Second thing, unrelated to the first question. Do you actually have a family? I know you’re not Hylian but from your looks you’re possibly a Gerudo, albeit a… rather short one.”</p><p>Shadow blinked. Then blinked again. He had multiple answers to that, all of which were true. “Sort of. I mean, I have parents. I wasn’t just created from magic.” he decided to say. Green stared at him.</p><p>“‘Sort of?’”</p><p>“Yeah, okay, this is going to sound really confusing.” Shadow started. “So, I’m born as a Gerudo, okay? A really long time ago, think like almost 150 years.” Green nodded. “So, I died an early death, at about 14 years old. My parents looked for a way to bring me back to life and found a spell that would tie my soul to someone else’s and recreate it as a mirror image. So, they’d get their son back, but different. Instead of being actually alive, my soul would be combined with magic and I’d be put in the Dark Realm, alive but trapped in there with no shape or form until someone comes along that is the exact opposite of me.”</p><p>He stopped to make sure Green wasn’t completely lost before continuing. “So, they did the spell, and waited, and waited, for someone to be born that was the opposite of me. They eventually died of old age because duh, they’re mortal, and eventually y-- a Hylian was born that was the exact opposite of me, so I took the form of him but, like, ‘evil.’” he put quotations around the word. “Also, I didn’t remember anything because of this whole rule about memory and reincarnation… it’s not important.”</p><p>“And, so, I grew up as the Hylian’s shadow, as a demon, until eventually my… former boss pulled me out from the Dark Realm and basically told me, ‘hey, work for me and you’ll get to discover your past’ and I was like ‘fat chance I don’t give a shit’ and then he was like ‘I’ll let you rule a large part of Hyrule’ and I agreed because I was really fucking greedy. So I worked for him for a while but his plan to destroy Hyrule failed and then he disappeared and I ended up here, no longer evil, and with a friend.” Shadow finished. “So, I’m technically a Gerudo, but also a demon who can change his appearance at will. I looked more like a Hylian for a while until I found out what happened through magical shenanigans and I decided to look like a gerudo. Any questions?”</p><p>“Plenty, but I’m just going to not ask them because I’m pretty sure I’ll be more confused.” Green answered. “That was… extremely interesting.”</p><p>“I know, right?” Shadow grinned. “I’ve chosen to ignore it and just say I’m a demon and that I came into this world with magic.”</p><p>“Okay. Thanks, Shadow..” Green said. “Do you want to look at constellations with me? I think you’d enjoy it.”</p><p>Shadow shrugged. He had nothing better to do. “Sure.” he and Green laid down on the ground and looked up at the stars.</p><p>They really were beautiful. (Just like someone else he knew--)</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Shadow: I totally don't have a crush on Vio<br/>Also Shadow: *last sentence in this chapter*</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos/thoughts on this fic! My tumblr is singingvio.tumblr.com! ^^</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Our team talks strategy and we finally find out what's going on.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>((Time Skip: one week later because I can))</p><p>Ever since Vio and Shadow had filled the other three on what was going on with Ganon and Vaati’s disappearances, the group of five had been researching non-stop. And, one week later, they finally found out what had happened (thanks to Red, who’d appeared and scared everyone before saying he was in the dream realm and was able to talk to followers and victims of Demise to find out what he was planning). Now, they were all holding a meeting in the library.</p><p>“So, Caleb, what exactly is going on?” Green asked first, looking at the ghost. Red tilted his head from side to side.</p><p>“Basically, Ganon decided he wanted more help in conquering Hyrule because Shadow just kind of went radio silent--” everyone looked at Shadow, who just grinned. “And somehow, using a lot of magic, summoned Demise, but something went wrong and Demise trapped both Ganon and Vaati in another universe and then went to the dark realm to gather forces and take over not only Hyrule, but all the realms, from the dream realm I was just in to the spirit realm to the realm of the Goddesses. And if he succeeds, we’re all going to die and everyone in Hyrule will become his slaves, basically.” he said, not pausing for breath. Which would have been impressive, except that he didn’t need to breath because he was dead.</p><p>“That’s… that seems like a stereotypical adventure from the history books.” Vio stated. Red laughed.</p><p>“That’s because it’s a repeat of History, Demise is summoned, attempts to take over the whole of Hyrule and all the realms, and is stopped by the combined powers of the Triforce. Unfortunately, unlike the first time where the Golden Goddesses were able to help, this time I think they’re already busy with trying to keep Demise’s dark magic at bay. So, right now, we don’t currently have the Triforce of Courage, and we definitely don’t have Power, and we MIGHT have Wisdom, but I’d need to check with Shadow about that. We also don’t have a lot of magic to use AGAINST Demise, and we only have five people-- four, really, because I don’t think I can help, and three if Shadow isn’t able to fight since anything he does is connected to dark magic and as a result would probably do nothing against Demise and possibly help him instead. Two, excluding Vio because he’s also a demon, so it’s just Jarek and Green.”</p><p>“That… isn’t a lot to work with.” Green said. “At all. So, we need to gather the representatives of the Triforce, get an army to fight Demise, help the Goddesses by keeping Demise’s magic at bay instead, and I’m guessing get the Master Sword since history is repeating itself.” he summed up. Red and Vio nodded.</p><p>“Now, I need to talk to Shadow real quick. Come on, Jarek!” Red said. The three left the room, and Green and Vio were left.</p><p>“Now, while they’re doing that…” Vio started. “You and I can come up with a way to do everything as quickly as possible.” Green nodded in agreement, taking a blank sheet of paper from the table.</p><p>“Okay, first, a list…” he said, writing everything down. “Did I miss anything we need to do?”</p><p>Gather Triforce bearers (Power, Wisdom, Courage)<br/>
Get Master Sword<br/>
Help Golden Goddesses<br/>
Weaken Demise in any way possible<br/>
Get some sort of army</p><p>Vio looked at the list. “Maybe we should do more than just that… I don’t think we should get an army right away. What we should do is find the reincarnations of the Seven Sages and create alliances with some of the races in Hyrule. That way, we have more people to fight with light magic against Demise, and people to turn to for help without a large chance of getting turned away. The Hylian villages, of course, and the Gerudo since you and Shadow are connected to them… Possibly the Kokiri and Sheikah. The Zora and Goron tribes may be difficult to convince, however.”</p><p>Green nodded and wrote that down. “Okay, and we should also try and destroy as many monsters as we can while doing this to make sure Demise doesn’t have as many people to join his ranks from the Light world.”</p><p>“And Shadow has some allies in the Dark world who will probably not join Demise. They are all from different points in time, but that shouldn’t be a problem as everyone in the Dark world and connected to it is technically immortal. There’s a princess there, and her personal knight that Shadow knows well.”</p><p>“Different points in time…”</p><p>“I don’t think we’ll be able to time travel, Green.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“I believe that’s it. We also need some sort of training schedule for all of us to make sure we are all ready to fight, in different ways. Long-range, short-range, and magic. Shadow and I can train us all in magic, and we can help each other with the physical attacks. We need to establish a leader of our entire group once we gather the Triforce bearers and Sages to make sure we don’t fall out of order.”</p><p>“Is that it?”</p><p>“Yes, that’s it, I think.”</p><p>When Vio and Green went over the list with the others after they returned, the list had turned into a whiteboard that covered an entire wall of the library.</p><p>Written in one corner in black marker was the actual list, which now looked like this:</p><p>Find Triforce bearers<br/>
Power<br/>
Wisdom<br/>
Courage<br/>
Find Seven Sages<br/>
Sage of Forest<br/>
Sage of Fire<br/>
Sage of Water<br/>
Sage of Shadow<br/>
Sage of Spirit<br/>
Sage of Light<br/>
Sage of Time<br/>
Find Master Swords and it’s weilder<br/>
Help Golden Goddesses with the darkness<br/>
Create alliances with all races in Hyrule to create army to fight Demise<br/>
Hylian<br/>
Gerudo<br/>
Sheikah (?)<br/>
Kokiri (?)<br/>
Zora (??)<br/>
Goron (??)<br/>
Gather allies from the Dark World<br/>
Princess Hilda and Ravio<br/>
Other rebel groups (?)<br/>
Defeat as many enemies in possible in Light World</p><p>Along with that long list, there was more. On the other side of the board was a training sort of schedule. They would train in groups after finding the Triforce bearers and the Seven Sages. It didn’t have anything written down so far except for the days of the week and types of training, along with who would be teaching what fighting style on what days.</p><p>They had decided Green and Blue(Jarek) would teach short-ranged attacks every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday, Vio would teach long-ranged attacks, and on weekends he and Shadow would teach magical attacks. Every Wednesday and Saturday, Red(Caleb) would teach everyone how to travel to different realms in different ways and how to see souls like he could.</p><p>The center of the board held a map of Hyrule with some things outlined in marker. The locations of all the tribes were marked, along with other places (such as the Fire Temple, Tower of Winds, and the Temple of Time) in red marker, and in blue marker were the locations most likely to find the sages.</p><p>The Sage of Forest would probably be found in the Kokiri Forest, the Sage of Water with the Zora, the Sage of Fire with the Goron, the Sage of Shadow either in Hyrule Castle somewhere or with the Sheikah. The Sage of Spirit had question marks around the Gerudo tribe, and the Sage of Light was probably in the Temple of Time, or at least near it. The Sage of Time wasn’t on the map, for reasons Shadow said he’d tell everyone later.</p><p>The room under the map was where Blue was working on who would do what. He was surprisingly good at giving people roles they fit right into and showing them what to do and how to succeed. He wasn’t a leader by any means, but he was a good tactician.</p><p>“Okay, so.” he started, pointing at the list he’d written under the map. “No questions until I say so.” everyone nodded. “Every team in any story ever needs five personalities to succeed: Someone to represent the heart, the emotions. That’s Caleb.” he wrote Red’s name down next to a heart symbol. “Someone to represent the mind, the logic and order. Obviously Vio.” he put Vio’s name next to a thought bubble. “Someone to represent the fists, the strength of the group. That would be me.” he put his name next to a hand. “Someone who’s usually the ‘odd man out’, but also contributes a lot to keeping the group together. The only person I found to fit that category is Shadow. No offense.” he said, writing Shadow’s name next to a question mark.</p><p>“None taken.”</p><p>“Finally, the main protagonist, the leader of the group that leads everyone to victory, whether it’s direct interference or something that seems more like it’s coming from the sidelines. That is you, Green.” Blue finished, writing Green’s name next to a star.</p><p>“Why me?” he asked, a bit confused. Blue rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Before you forced yourself to forget everything, you were a hero of Hyrule, pretty famous, and our de facto leader. Not a very good one, but that was probably my fault. And also because a certain person I won’t name that’s in this room--” he gave a pointed look at Shadow, who was trying not to laugh. “Kept trying to rip our group apart by making us hate each other. Now that you’re an adult, I’m going to guess you have common sense and you seem pretty confident in your actions. You also bring this group together, and, I hate to say it, are sort of like our father figure. That sounds like a leader.”</p><p>“O...okay.” Green said.</p><p>“So, now that you all know what you contribute in this group… I’m splitting you up. Vio, Shadow, and Caleb are going to find the Sages. Vio can take the Fire Rod, which Caleb is connected to, with him. Shadow can find the Sages of Shadow and Light. The Sage of Shadow because, well, shadows, though I have a feeling it won’t go quite as expected. The Sage of Light… this one’s hard to explain but just trust me on this one, I think you’re the only one who can convince the Sage of Light to join us.” Blue said. Shadow opened his mouth to protest, but Blue continued talking instead.</p><p>“Vio, you and Caleb get the Sages of Water, Forest, and Fire. Vio, you should be the one to talk to the Sage of Water, preferably by yourself. Caleb, you handle Fire. Both of you will need to work together on the Sage of Forest. Especially if their personalities are what’s said in the legends.” he listed. Vio and Red nodded.</p><p>“The Sage of Time, Shadow will need to explain after I’m done.” Blue said. “The Sage of Spirit, I want all three of you to tackle together. The Sage of Spirit is the hardest to create an alliance with, and they’re supposed to be extremely crafty and, if the legends are true, will fight back until they’re defeated. Caleb can predict their movements by getting in their head with his weird ghosty powers-- Stop laughing, Caleb, I couldn’t find the right word for it-- Shadow can incapacitate them with magic, and he and Vio can fight back rather easily if both of them train well and are at full strength.”</p><p>“What about you and me?” Green asked. Blue grinned.</p><p>“You and I get to gather the bearers of the Triforce and talk to the Goddesses.” he said. “The Triforce of Courage will be the easiest to find. Someone with the name Link, basically. It can’t be any of us because we’re only parts of the ‘original’ Link. The Courage bearer also must be ready to face a challenge head on. The Triforce of Wisdom, we might already have if what Shadow’s going to say is true. If not… we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it. The Triforce of Power we’ll need to do last, since the Power bearer is extremely, well, powerful, and like the Sage of Spirit will probably be working for the side of darkness.” Blue finally finished speaking, writing all of what he said down on the map and list.</p><p>“Shadow, you can talk now.” he said, and Shadow walked up towards the board, to and empty space to the right of the map.</p><p>“Okay, so first of all, the Sage of Time and the Wisdom bearer are usually the same person. Second, they will almost always be a princess with prophetic powers and the blessing of the goddess Hylia. Jarek and I, and probably Caleb, remember someone who fits that description almost perfectly. The good news is, she’s still alive and we know exactly where she is. The bad news is, we don’t know her mental state. She’s been trapped in one place for so long with almost no contact with anyone, and that might have driven her crazy.”</p><p>“Who is she?” Green asked. Shadow smirked.</p><p>“The Sage of Time, bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom and blessed by the goddess Hylia…” he started. “Is none other than Link’s childhood sweetheart, Princess Zelda herself.” he looked at everyone in the room. “Let’s go bring our beloved princess back down to earth.”</p><p>---</p><p>Princess Zelda opened her eyes slowly and found herself in the Sacred Realm once more. She was standing in the same spot as always, on top of a golden pedestal with the symbol of Time at her feet. Circling around her were six other pedestals, all of them vacant.</p><p>All but one.</p><p>Standing right across from her was the Sage of Shadow. “Impa…” she whispered. “What am I going to do? You’re the only one I can talk to now…”</p><p>The sage, Impa, smiled at her, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Princess, I don’t think you can do anything. Ever since you have awakened as a Sage, though I don’t know how, you have been here in the Sacred Realm during your long sleep. And, sadly, I have not fully awakened either, so I cannot help you. I am only here for the reason you, and only you, know of.”</p><p>Zelda lowered her gaze towards the floor, more specifically, the symbol of Shadow at Impa’s feet. “You’re dying.”</p><p>Impa nodded. “I won’t be here much longer, but I believe I should tell you something that might lift your spirits.”</p><p>Zelda looked at the older woman. “What?”</p><p>“I was finally able to glimpse at the outside world. It seems that while your prophetic vision is no help, my magic still takes me to the shadows of history. This timeline is a doomed timeline, as you know. After this, the history of Hyrule will cease to exist. But that doesn’t mean you will all disappear like I thought. Do you want to know how it really ends?”</p><p>Zelda nodded eagerly.</p><p>“It ends with a great battle, and after a victory, life will go on like normal in this timeline. The only thing different is that there will be no true successor of the Hero of Hyrule. It does have a happy ending. And I have a feeling you will get to see it.”</p><p>Zelda smiled. That actually did lift her spirits. Impa suddenly started to glow, then slowly started to fade. Zelda’s eyes widened as the entire realm started to disappear.</p><p>“Princess Zelda, close your eyes. I believe you will be waking up at last.”</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Okay, so, I messed with the timeline a bit. The Seven Sages are the ones from Ocarina of Time, but in this universe they are reincarnated every time the bearers of the Triforce are. That means they're in Four Swords as well. So, that's why OOT characters appear in a Four Swords fic. Also, way more characters (I already mentioned Hilda and Ravio). So yeah just ignore the official Zelda timeline and just go with this fucked up version that I made to make the storyline more interesting.</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos, what you liked/disliked, opinions, suggestions, ideas, headcanons. ^^ My Tumblr is singingvio.tumblr.com!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zelda has a therapy session with Shadow</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: Suicidal thoughts</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“...You think… waking up?”</p><p>“Oh, I… opening her eyes!”</p><p>“...elda? Zelda…”</p><p>“Zelda!”</p><p>Zelda’s eyes shot open and she sat up, eyes darting wildly to try and take in everything at once. In front of her was a middle-aged man, two demons, a teenager, and a ghost. “What-- What happened? Who are you? How long has it been?”</p><p>The man stepped forward. “Princess Zelda, you probably won’t recognize most of us, but…” he paused. “We really need you right now. We’re here to help, okay?”</p><p>---</p><p>Zelda sat on the edge of her bed, clutching a teacup in her hands and staring at the liquid inside it. Just an hour ago, she had woken up for the first time in twenty years. She’d met five strange people-- one of who she swore she recognized but couldn’t remember-- and had been told that the world would end if she wasn’t one of their allies. They had told her they’d explain everything tomorrow, since she’d just woken up. After that, she had taken a shower, surprised that she was still a teenager. Perhaps being in the Sacred Realm made it so she didn’t age?</p><p>When she had finished showering she had found a simple white shirt and pants that fit her perfectly, putting them on. She’d found her way back to the room her new acquaintances had provided her and the boy with a long braid had given her some tea. She had insisted she wasn’t hungry, but her stomach still growled in protest after he’d left.</p><p>And now, here she was, sitting on her bed, holding a teacup and shaking, panicking on why this was happening and what was going on and why she was <i>here</i>.</p><p>They’d said they were here to help, but was that really true?</p><p>Zelda was jolted out of her thoughts by a knock at the door. Or, rather, the doorframe since her door was open. Standing there was one of the demons. The one she sort-of-recognized-but-not-really-because-she-couldn’t-remember.</p><p>“Hello, Princess Zelda.” he said, surprisingly formal despite his appearance. He was wearing a black training uniform, which was a short-sleeved top and loose pants not quite reaching his ankles, and he looked very tired. His hair was messed up and, for some reason, pink despite it being purple with yellow tips earlier. “Can I come in?”</p><p>Zelda nodded, and he closed the door behind him as he stood in front of her. “Do you remember everything?” Zelda nodded again. “What do you remember last happening to you?”</p><p>“I… I remember everything until I was taken to the Tower of Winds… I sort of remember you, but you looked different… I don’t remember what you did, though, but I was scared.”</p><p>“Did I look like this?” Suddenly, the boy’s appearance changed. His skin paled until it was almost chalk white, his hair darkening until it was a vibrant purple. His eyes changed from red to blue. Now Zelda recognized him.</p><p>“Shadow.” she muttered. Shadow(?) changed back to what he looked like before, and tilted his head, confused.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“That’s your name. Shadow… I remember you now! You… You kidnapped me! You tried to kill me!” her voice increased in pitch and volume until she was almost shrieking, but Shadow looked unfazed.</p><p>“Yep, sounds like me.” he said. “I didn’t try to kill you, but I’m really sorry if I hurt you. I was following orders and I was… stupid back then. I’m truly sorry that I kidnapped you and everything, but I really have changed and I’m on your side. Please believe me.”</p><p>Zelda searched his expression for any sign of lying, but his face was completely unreadable. He just… stood there. And it was unnerving.</p><p>“I… can’t tell you’re lying, and I guess I accept your apology… but that doesn’t mean I’m not wary.” she said. Shadow nodded.</p><p>“Seems fair. I have another question.”</p><p>“Ask away.” Zelda said, staring at her teacup again. She was sure whatever he was going to ask would be something like why she isn’t just dead already or if she’s <i>really</i> on their side--</p><p>“...okay?”</p><p>Zelda shook her head and looked back up at Shadow. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”</p><p>“I asked if you were okay. How are you holding up?”</p><p>Zelda just stared at him. That wasn’t… at all what she was expecting. Is she okay? Of course she’s okay! She woke up, finally, she had a nice shower, and now she’s relaxing in her room worrying about what’s going on and panicking because she’s probably going to die later on and she won’t fit in with this group at all and-- Oh.</p><p>“...No. I’m not okay.” she whispered. “I’m just… so worried, and confused, and I’m panicking.” she watched as Shadow sat down next to her on the bed. He glanced at her teacup and how tightly she was holding it and sighed, flicking his hand. The cup floated out of her hands and onto her desk.</p><p>“Why? Can you explain?” Shadow asked. This conversation was confusing Zelda more and more, from what she remembered he was not even <i>near</i>being this nice.</p><p>“I… Why are you being nice?” she asked. Shadow shrugged.</p><p>“I want to make it up to you, since I kind of ruined your future. Being nice is the least I could do…” he trailed off. “Can I brush your hair?”</p><p>“I-- w-- why?” Zelda stuttered, a bit shocked by the question.</p><p>“Your hair is extremely tangled and it’s kind of bothering me. You can talk while I’m brushing it.” Zelda gave him a look, then just sighed and handed him the brush on her nightstand. Shadow took a lock of her long hair and started to brush it, and Zelda started to talk.</p><p>“I just… I wake up after all these years, and I don’t know anything! I want to help Hyrule, I really want to save it like you guys said you were going to but I don’t even know if I can be of any help, anyway, and besides, I doubt the kingdom will want the help of a princess who took a nap while the kingdom probably went to shit!” Zelda started. She didn’t hear any response from Shadow.</p><p>“Also, I’m just really panicked for no reason at all. I’m not specifically scared of anything but everything’s so new and I can’t process it all at once and it’s making me have some sort of freakout! I used to run a KINGDOM, but now I’m sitting here panicking just because I’m unable to process a little bit of information! It’s so silly, and it’s really stupid, and I can’t stop freaking out and I feel like I’m going to cry at any minute for no reason and I just--” she paused, cutting off her sentence before she could finish the thought she <i>knew</i> would make Shadow just laugh at her.</p><p>“You just what? I won’t be mad at you or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Shadow said, now done with brushing her hair and just kind of playing with it.</p><p>“...I kind of wish I never woke up.” she muttered. She felt Shadow’s fingers freeze and drop from her hair and he stared at her. She didn’t look back, staring at the floor.</p><p>“In what way?”</p><p>“I-- I just-- I don’t know but I don’t want to be awake anymore!” Zelda yelled. “I hate this! I HATE it! I hate it all and I wish I never woke up, I don’t want to wake up ever again because I know that if I don’t wake up then I won’t have to deal with all this pain I’m going through for no reason!” she was screaming at the top of her lungs at this point, and Shadow was just as shocked as she was at her tone. Zelda didn’t think she could be surprised by anything else today.</p><p>Until Shadow wrapped his arms around her, hugging her for a few seconds before pulling away, his hands still resting on her shoulders. “Zelda.” he said, his eyes flashing green as he looked at her. “That is not okay. It’s fine that you’re upset with your situation but you cannot just say you want to end your life because things are difficult.”</p><p>“But-- it would just be so much easier if I wasn’t--”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“I don’t--”</p><p>“Zelda. Everything will make sense in a little while, okay? We’re going to explain everything, and it’s going to be fine. I promise that Hyrule is perfectly fine. In your absence, Hyrule Castle was destroyed, but the maidens were eventually freed and they took control. They never rebuilt Hyrule Castle, but they restored order and currently rule Hyrule in your place, and everything is fine. No one’s mad at you, either, and no one’s judging you for something that was out of your control.” Shadow said. “And it’s okay that you can’t process everything right now, that’s perfectly normal for someone in your situation. When you ruled Hyrule, you were in control, and you were told everything right of the bat. You weren’t confused or terrified of what could happen like you are now, and you’re not exactly in control of the situation, either. None of us are. That’s a perfectly valid reason to be scared.”</p><p>“I-I’m really s-sorry…” Zelda muttered.</p><p>“You’re crying.”</p><p>“Oh.” Zelda wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and it came back wet. “Can-- never mind.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Can I have another hug?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>Zelda practically lunged at Shadow, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her face in his shirt, sobbing. Shadow just let her, wrapping his arms around her and running his fingers through her hair.</p><p>Zelda had just woken up over an hour ago for the first time in twenty years, she was no longer a princess, she didn’t have anything to truly worry about, yet she was scared out of her mind.</p><p>---</p><p>Zelda eventually fell asleep, this time naturally instead of whatever magic sleep she was in while being held in the tower of winds. Shadow laid her down in her bed and wrapped the blankets around her and left the room, going back to the library. Vio and Green were waiting for him, Blue and Red probably doing their own thing with their cat.</p><p>“You were gone a while.” Vio stated from the (extremely large) table they’d taken from a storage room that easily held up to twenty people. They were going to use it for meetings when they had to, but for now it was a research table.</p><p>Shadow nodded. “Yep. I was checking on Zelda.”</p><p>“Checking on her shouldn’t have taken that long.” Green said. “What happened?”</p><p>“Well, she’s most definitely not okay right now.” Shadow said, looking over the board and then at the list of things to do, trying to figure out what Zelda could help with.</p><p>“How so?” Vio asked.</p><p>“She’s scared, confused, and basically panicked about what’s going to happen. I helped her out with a lot of it, and she fell asleep a few minutes ago, but I’m worried.”</p><p>“About what?” Green asked, writing a note down and sticking it to the board. It read, ‘Zelda- Mind/Soul?’</p><p>“Well, she sort of… said she wished she never woke up…”</p><p>“She WHAT?” Vio yelled.</p><p>“And then said she wants to go back to sleep and never get up again.”</p><p>“Oh, no.” Green muttered.</p><p>“It’s okay now, I managed to calm her down and hopefully get rid of those thoughts at least temporarily but I think we should keep an eye on her just in case!” Shadow said, taking Green’s note. “She’s not the Mind or Soul, I think she’d be the Odd One Out. Like, in a good way.”</p><p>Green nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense, but I think that would upset her.”</p><p>“The Odd One Out doesn’t have to be the weakest link or anything, though-- they can also just be the ones that are the newest additions to the team and don’t quite belong yet. She’s still searching for her place in the group, obviously, like the Odd One Out.” Vio said.</p><p>“I agree, but don’t you think--” Green paused. “Wait, I have something better than the Odd One Out.” he grabbed the note again and scratched out ‘Mind/Soul?’ and wrote something else. He handed it to Shadow.</p><p>“‘Blood?’ I don’t understand.” Shadow read, handing it back to Green.</p><p>“Okay, so Blood represents links and relationships, and also physical blood keeps the rest of the body working. So if we’re all metaphorical parts of the body, Heart, Mind, Soul, Body, and… the Odd One Out-- that doesn’t really fit but oh well-- then Zelda is Blood. With her, the team feels kind of complete, like it’s working properly, despite us barely spending time with her so far.” Green explained. Shadow nodded slowly.</p><p>“That… works perfectly.” Shadow grinned, sticking the note next to everyone else’s roles.</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Poor Zelda... I am so sorry...</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos! My tumblr is singingvio.tumlbr.com!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It gets a lot worse before it gets better...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: Self harm, suicidal thoughts!!! This chapter is kind of dark!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Zelda had fallen into a routine the past couple days. Wake up, eat breakfast, shower, wince at her reflection in the mirror because for some reason it’s painful to look at, trip over the cat Violet and then pet her head somewhat happily, get dressed, listen in on the plans everyone made but don’t contribute any ideas, eat lunch, decline the invitation to train in combat with the others because she knows she’d be bad at it, take a nap to try and reach the Sacred Realm again but fail, walk around aimlessly for a while lost in thoughts she knows she shouldn’t have, talk to Shadow and pretend she’s fine, take another nap for the same reason as the previous one, skip dinner to read and feel lonely, and fall asleep, usually crying.</p><p>It was a perfect routine.</p><p>Eventually, her routine was broken, little by little.</p><p>First, she began to skip breakfast as well for reasons she couldn’t figure out. She just couldn’t make herself get up and eat, so she just stayed in bed until she had to shower.</p><p>Next, she decided to break the mirror in the bathroom she used. She picked up one of the glass shards, staring at it blankly and, before she could think about it, sliced the palms of her hands open.</p><p>She immediately regretted it and bandaged her hands up.</p><p>Then she started skipping the meetings. She really didn’t care anymore, she didn’t have any ideas to contribute anyways. She also gave up on trying to find the Sacred Realm. She just slept to escape whatever was going on in her head.</p><p>She also started to listen to the thoughts she had. She gave up on everything else, as well, and pushed everything down until she felt nothing. Perfect Apathy. Except it wasn’t perfect, because she hated herself.</p><p>She still fell asleep crying. She didn’t know why she was so upset all the time, she thought the talk the first day she’d woken up had made her okay again but it hadn’t and she didn’t know why. Talking to Shadow made her feel better because he just listened.</p><p>That was one of the few parts of her daily routine she kept.</p><p>Her new routine was this: Wake up, shower, cut her hands on the broken mirror, regret it and bandage them up, get dressed, sleep, eat lunch, sleep, decline the offer of training sessions, sleep, walk around hating herself, talk to Shadow, sleep, sleep, sleep.</p><p>Of course, after she finally got used to her new routine, she had to slip up again.</p><p>She was just going to the dining hall to eat lunch when she tripped on a loose stone, falling to the floor and crying out when her bandaged hands collided with the ground. Her yell didn’t go unheard and Shadow and Blue ran into the room. Shadow helped her up off the ground, but when he grabbed her hand to help her gain her balance, she yelped in pain again and yanked her hand away.</p><p>“Zelda, what happened?” Blue asked. Zelda shook her head.</p><p>“Nothing, nothing’s wrong, I’m fine!” she said. She could hear it in her voice. She was crying again and she felt herself shaking. Shadow and Blue looked at each other and had a silent conversation that contained only expressions, then looked back at Zelda, who was practically being held by Shadow because she just couldn’t stand up <i>why couldn’t she stand up it was so simple!</i></p><p>“Zelda, please tell us what’s wrong.” Blue said. “We’ve been worried about you for a while because you barely leave your room to talk to any of us but we’ve been trying to give you space so we didn’t interfere but obviously something’s wrong.”</p><p>“I, it’s nothing, it’s really nothing!” Zelda stuttered. “I’m perfectly fine, I just tripped and it hurt a bit, and--” she stopped when she realized Shadow was holding one of her hands, palm up (<i>where she cut herself</i>) and that her bandages were now extremely bloody.</p><p>“Zelda.” Shadow said, no emotion in his voice whatsoever. “What have you done?”</p><p>It didn’t sound accusatory, it was just a question, but Zelda couldn’t handle the thoughts of <i>’Now Shadow knows and everyone else is going to find out and she’s so weak and they’re all going to hate her because she’s weak and she deserves it all’</i> and she collapsed, actually collapsed, and wished she would fall and hit her head and forget this happened but instead Shadow caught her again.</p><p>“I-I-I’m s-so so-sorry, I-I di-didn’t m-mean t-t-to, it j-just h-ha-happened and I-I-- I--”</p><p>Shadow looked at Blue, panicked. ‘What do I do?’ he mouthed. Blue shrugged.</p><p>“I’ll get Green.” Blue said, turning quickly and running back the way he came.</p><p>Shadow gently placed Zelda on the ground, sitting down beside her and rubbing circles on her back. “Zelda, it’s okay.” he whispered. “It’s okay, no one’s upset at you.”</p><p>“I-I-I’m <i>sorry,</i> I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry…” Zelda went to cover her face with her hands but brought her hands back down to rest in her lap instead.</p><p>“It’s okay.”</p><p>Shadow heard footsteps and looked up to see Blue, with Green behind him. Good. Green could help, he had an aura around him that just made everyone feel at ease. Green walked up to Shadow and Zelda. “Shadow, what happened?”</p><p>“She tripped, and started crying, and then we asked what was wrong and she started panicking and I saw her hands were bleeding a lot so I asked her what she did and she completely broke down.” Shadow explained. “And, now that I think about it, I could have phrased that question so it was less… accusatory.”</p><p>“Fuck yeah you could’ve.” Blue snorted. Green gave him a ‘I’m not mad, just disappointed’ look.</p><p>“Not the time, Jarek.” he turned back to Zelda. “Zelda, can you answer a question for me?”</p><p>“I-I-I--” Zelda stopped trying to talk and just nodded.</p><p>“What happened to your hands? None of us will be mad at you, just tell us what happened.”</p><p>“M-m-mirror. I-I b-broke it a-a-and s-saw t-the g-g-glass and I-- I-- I’m so s-sorry, I-I didn’t m-mean t-to, I--”</p><p>“Zelda it’s--” Shadow started.</p><p>“So you broke your bathroom mirror, saw the shards, and decided to cut your hands with it?” Green clarified. Zelda nodded. “Can I see your hands?”</p><p>Zelda shook her head.</p><p>Shadow sighed. “Do you want to calm down first?”</p><p>Zelda nodded and her head dropped. Soon enough, she was fast asleep again. Shadow picked her up and held her in his arms, surprised at how light she was. “I think she needs to rest a bit. I’m gonna take her to her room.”</p><p>Green nodded. “Seems reasonable. I’ll come with you. Jarek, inform Vio and Caleb about what just happened but none of you come to Zelda’s room until I say so.” Blue gave a thumbs up and left in the direction of the library, taking out the Fire Rod and shaking it so Red was awake as he did so.</p><p>Shadow carried Zelda back to her room, Green walking next to him. “Shadow, did you know about this?”</p><p>“No. I’m kind of impressed with how well she hid all this, we all barely noticed how she was really doing this past week.”</p><p>“But it’s only been a week, how is she like… this? I thought you’d calmed her down?”</p><p>“I’ve helped her calm down about the state of Hyrule, which was causing a lot of worry from her, but that was all I was really able to do. I just assumed she was okay because she greeted everyone with a smile all the time, I didn’t notice…” Shadow trailed off. “Oh, Hylia, I’ve been a terrible friend.”</p><p>“It’s not entirely your fault, she hid it so well we barely noticed anyway. The only reason we were worried was because Caleb said her aura was extremely negative.”</p><p>“I still should have noticed, if I had I could have stopped her from doing <i>this</i>.”</p><p>Shadow opened the door to Zelda’s room and laid her down in her bed, pulling the blankets up around her. Now that he actually looked at her, he could tell she didn’t look so good. Her hair was matted and tangled, there were dark bags under her eyes despite her sleeping almost all the time, she was extremely pale, and when he’d picked her up she’d felt a lot lighter. It had only been a week, how was she this bad?</p><p>“Green, she’s gonna be okay, right?”</p><p>“I hope so.”</p><p>---</p><p>When Zelda woke up (again), she was lying in her bed, in her room. She wiped her eyes and found they were still wet. She stared at the bloody bandages on her hands and remembered what happened. <i>Oh, no.</i></p><p>“Zelda, you’re awake!” said a voice. Shadow walked up to her, clearly relieved she was <i>somewhat</i> okay but all Zelda could think about was <i>’he knows what you did.’</i> “How are you feeling?”</p><p>“Fi--” Zelda paused. That wouldn’t work anymore. “Really shitty.” her voice sounded so tired, it hadn’t spoken clearly in a while.</p><p>Shadow nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I assumed. Green’s going to come back soon with fresh bandages for your hands, and we should probably check to make sure they aren’t infected, either.”</p><p>“O-okay.”</p><p>Shadow sat down next to her on the bed, grabbing the brush and running it through her hair that she <i>knew</i> looked like a mess. “Zelda, what are you worried about? There’s something you’re not telling me, and it’s not just that you’re worried about our opinions of you. I already know about that.”</p><p>“I-I--” there was no way she could tell him why she hated herself because it was just so <i>wrong</i> and he’d <i>hate her</i>. “I don’t want to tell you.”</p><p>“Oh, okay.” Shadow wasn’t going to push for answers. Usually he would but… Not now. Not when Zelda was like this.</p><p>The door opened and Green walked back into the room, carrying a first-aid kit, a few healing potions, and bandages. He sat down on the other side of Zelda and looked at Shadow, then at Zelda. “Hey, Zelda, I need to make sure your hands are okay.” he said. Zelda nodded numbly and held out her hands. Green took one and carefully unwrapped the bloody bandages. His eyes widened when he saw the wound.</p><p>There was one large, deep red slash in the center of her palm, smaller cuts all around it, all of them red and throbbing and <i>definitely</i> infected, probably because she cut herself on a <i>bathroom mirror</i>. “Zelda, this is extremely infected.” he said. “And I’m going to guess your other hand is like this one?”</p><p>Zelda nodded.</p><p>Green sighed and grabbed the potions he had. He handed Shadow one and placed the others in front of Zelda, keeping one for himself as well. “Zelda, drink these potions. Shadow, unwrap her other hand and pour that potion on it. I’ll do the same with this hand.”</p><p>“What will that do?” Zelda asked.</p><p>“Numb your hands. To make sure these heal well I’m going to have to clean the wounds and it’s going to be painful. Also, this has the added bonus of you not being in pain whenever you try and grab something.”</p><p>Zelda nodded and looked at her own pile of potions. “What do these do?”</p><p>“They’re all slightly different healing potions. It’ll help you a lot.”</p><p>Zelda grabbed one of the bottles, the smallest one, and downed it in one gulp. She gagged. “Tastes like old feet.”</p><p>“Yeah, some of them taste bad, but the purple ones taste really good. Drink those last so they don’t leave an awful aftertaste.” Green said, cleaning the wound on Zelda’s hand, then wrapping her hand up in new bandages. After making sure they were secure and wouldn’t come undone easily, he went to the other hand and did the same thing. Zelda drank all the potions and Shadow watched Green work while absentmindedly playing with some of Zelda’s hair.</p><p>When Green finished, he put everything back in the first aid kit and put the kit on Zelda’s nightstand. “Zelda, we need to have a talk.” he said. Zelda winced, she knew this was going to happen. “First of all, what you did to your hands was <i>not</i> okay, and it never will be under any circumstances. You are not allowed to hurt yourself anymore. Got it?” Zelda nodded. “Second, you need to talk to us. If you’re not feeling well, physically or mentally, tell someone. If you had, we could have helped you.” Zelda nodded again. “Finally, you are now required to attend our training sessions.”</p><p>At this, Zelda stared at him. “What?”</p><p>“You’re clearly upset about something you’re not willing to tell us, and all these pent-up emotions about whatever it is led to you doing this to yourself. Training will help you get rid of those emotions in a more positive way and might completely change your mindset eventually. Jarek does it a lot. He gets angry all the time and after training he’s perfectly fine because he let out all his emotions by training. I think you could benefit in the same way.”</p><p>“But…” Zelda stared at her hands. “But I’m not good at using a sword or anything.”</p><p>Shadow laughed. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t know what we do during training!” he said. “Come with me.” he helped Zelda up and led her to a door she’d never opened before, leading her inside. Zelda’s eyes widened at the mere size of the room. “Look, here are the weapons we use. Not just swords, but also spears, clubs, hammers, spiked whips, axes-- but those are only the short-range weapons. We also have long-range weapons. Bows and arrows, of course, but also throwing knives and needles, boomerangs, bombs… and we also have weapons for magic. Jarek has the Fire Rod that Caleb stays in a lot, but it also shoots fire out if you have some sort of magic. There’s also the Ice Rod here, and a couple bags of runestones for casting spells. You can fight with literally anything in any style and we can accommodate it. It’s pretty cool.”</p><p>Zelda nodded, examining the box of weapons. She looked at the targets, then at the training dummies, then slowly picked up a knife, examining it. It was just a simple wooden training dagger, sharp enough to leave a dent, but dull enough that no one would accidentally get hurt using it. Shadow grinned at her. “Do you want to start training now? We can find out your fighting style.”</p><p>Zelda nodded. “O-okay.”</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>"Oh no, poor Zelda, I thought Shadow helped her last chapter?"</p><p>You thought. (He actually did but he couldn't address the problem Zelda's keeping a secret so it go a lot worse)</p><p>Don't worry, she tries to get better after this point, the worst in Zelda's mini-arc is over!!!</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos! My Tumblr is singingvio.tumblr.com!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zelda and Shadow have a training session.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Before you start training, you need to get ready, Zelda.” Green said. “There are training uniforms in the corner, and you should tie your hair up so it doesn’t get in the way.” Zelda went to where he was pointing and grabbed a uniform. Before she could leave, Shadow put a hand on her shoulder.</p><p>“I’m going to make sure you don’t go into the bathroom with the broken mirror.” he said, taking her to a different bathroom than the one she usually used. “Use this one instead.” Zelda nodded and went inside, closing the door and locking it. She changed as fast as possible and grabbed a hair tie from the counter, putting her hair in a ponytail. She quickly rushed back out, proud of herself for not looking at her reflection this time. Shadow grinned at her, also wearing a training uniform. He’d probably changed while she was, too. “Come on.” he said, and Zelda followed her to the training room. Green was standing in the corner near the crates.</p><p>“Are you going to train?” Zelda asked. Green shook his head.</p><p>“No, I think I should help Vio study in the library.” he said. “But I trust you two won’t blow up the room?”</p><p>“That was ONE TIME! And it wasn’t even completely my fault!” Shadow protested. Zelda giggled, and stopped. That was the first time she’d laughed in a while…</p><p>Green left the room, and Shadow and Zelda were alone. Shadow walked over to the crates holding all the weapons, grabbing a bag of runestones and a training sword. “Pick your weapon.” he told Zelda, gesturing at the crates. Zelda stepped forward.</p><p>“Can I try all of them?”</p><p>“Sure, and you can decide which one you want after. I know how to use all of these, so I can help you if you need it.”</p><p>Zelda nodded and picked up a sword. “I think I’ll start simple.”</p><p>---</p><p>One hour later, Zelda had gone through all the weapons and was now looking at them all spread out on the floor in front of her. She looked at Shadow, then back at the weapons.</p><p>“What do you think I’d be the best at?”</p><p>“Well, the larger short-range weapons are a big no. They’re pretty heavy and you tend to move around a lot when you fight, so those would make it way harder for you to actually attack. You’re pretty good with a dagger, but it would be hard for you to get to your opponent fast enough unless you can attack them from afar first. That leads us to the long-range weapons. Again, bow and arrows counter your speed so it’d be hard to use. You have extremely good aim, but not a lot of strength to throw something heavier than an arrow, so not the throwing knives or the boomerang. The needles are the best option. The magic weapons I think you could use as a backup, specifically the shielding and cloaking spells, more defense than offense. That would give you the opportunity to sneak up on your opponent and attack them. So, runes for defense, throwing needles, and daggers. I’d say multiple daggers at once because you seem to work better using multiple weapons than using one.”</p><p>Zelda thought for a moment and nodded. “Yeah… that sounds right.” she said. She reached down and picked up three daggers, tying two to her left leg and one to her right. She grabbed a jacket specifically used for storing runes and long-range weapons and filled one pocked with throwing needles and the other with defensive runes. Shadow grinned at her.</p><p>“Do you want to try it out?”</p><p>“Yeah!”</p><p>“Cool, hit me.”</p><p>“O-- wait, what?” Zelda blinked in confusion and Shadow laughed, picking up his training sword again along with a shield.</p><p>“Attack me. I’m really good at dodging and with this shield you have a low chance of actually hitting me, but trying to attack a moving target would help us decide if this weapons combo is right for you.” Shadow explained. Zelda nodded slowly.</p><p>“You’re sure I won’t hurt you?”</p><p>“I’m sure. Besides, these weapons are dull and if they hit it’d be like getting hit with a foam dart. Pretty painless.”</p><p>Zelda stood still for a moment. Suddenly, she threw a handful of throwing needles at Shadow, who yelped in surprised and barely managed to dodge. “Hey!”</p><p>Zelda didn’t listen and she continued attacking him. When he got too close to her, she cast a rune to create smoke and ran away. When she was far enough away and saw an opening, she threw the needles. When Shadow got thrown off by her actually managing to hit him, she ran forward and attacked with the dagger. When he disarmed her, she grabbed the other two daggers  and attacked, shoving them at his throat before he managed to dodge. If they were real weapons, he’d be dead on the ground.</p><p>By the end, both of them were on the ground, extremely tired. “You are… a fucking ninja.” Shadow said, breathing heavily. Zelda grinned.</p><p>“Fuck yeah I am.” she bragged. “What was it you said about me not being able to hit you?”</p><p>“It seems I miscalculated the probability.” Shadow laughed. “I think we should be done now… it’s almost dinnertime.”</p><p>Zelda nodded, putting the jacket and her weapons away. “We should probably change first and stuff.” she said. Shadow nodded, and the two walked to the bathrooms to change.</p><p>Zelda kept her hair up, but took a few strands out until her hair framed her face differently. Not too differently, but she liked it. She changed back into the white clothes near the towels and met Shadow outside the bathrooms, the two going to the dining hall.</p><p>Zelda actually ate a large meal, her first dinner since she’d woken up. She joined in on the conversation and got along well with everyone.</p><p>Green really was like the group’s father figure, but was also laid-back and acted kind of childish sometimes, so Zelda wasn’t uncomfortable. Jarek was really loud and made jokes a lot, and also seemed to be the group’s strategist despite not being the ‘Mind.’ Caleb was cheerful and content to just float near Jarek and talk, not eating because he was a ghost. Vio was quiet, but when he did talk it was about something that made the whole group cheer up more. Shadow was, of course, Shadow, joking around and firing good-natured ‘insults’ that didn’t really count as insults because they were ridiculous back and forth with Jarek.</p><p>And Zelda was Zelda.</p><p>---</p><p>(A few days later)</p><p>“Okay, now that Zelda’s back with us,” started Blue. “We can actually start looking for the Sages. We already have the Sage of Time here, and from what she’s told us, the Sage of Shadow we should get to as soon as possible. Shadow, I think you should leave as soon as you can to find them.”</p><p>Shadow nodded. “Got it.” Zelda wasn’t actually participating in the meeting that day, though she was there. She was sitting next to Vio and sewing something. She’d found that sewing brought her joy, and she was constantly making clothes for herself and everyone else. She was also extremely good at it. Today she was wearing one of her creations, a tight long-sleeved black shirt with a much looser, almost-too-big dark blue shirt over it, the triforce drawn on it in red, with black pants that had leather guards wrapped around them for when she was training, as she tended to roll a lot to dodge attacks which resulted in bruising her knees. Her hair was tied in a braid, a red jewel on the end.</p><p>“Vio and Caleb, I also want you two to go as soon as possible to get the Sage of Forest. They’d be the easiest Sage to find, but one of the hardest to convince, so I want to get them out of the way as soon as possible.”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>“Green, and I are going to try and find leads on where the bearer of the Triforce of Power could be. I will go to the Castle Town to start, and Green will stay here to research in the library. Zelda, I want you to go with Shadow to find the Sage of Shadow.”</p><p>“Oh!” Zelda said. “I-- I thought you might want me to stay here.”</p><p>Blue shook his head. “Nope. I think you’d be a big help with finding the Sage of Shadow, especially since you knew her personally while you were trapped in the Sacred Realm.”</p><p>“Oh, okay.” Zelda said, going back to her sewing.</p><p>“Shadow, how soon can you all leave?”</p><p>“Well, once everything’s ready, probably today. And hopefully we’ll be back by tomorrow night.”</p><p>“That’s great, you guys all go and get ready. Green, you start researching. Zelda, come with me, I’m going to show you the armory.” Blue said. Zelda stood up, following him out of the library and to the training room.</p><p>“So, where exactly is the armory?”</p><p>“Oh, right, we haven’t shown you where it is because… reasons.” Blue said. Zelda nodded. “It’s a hidden door next to the training dummies.” he walked over to a seemingly normal wall and shoved it. The wall closed in on itself and revealed a room filled with real versions of the weapons in the training room. “Get your weapons.” he said, grabbing a hammer and a sword and equipping them. Zelda nodded and grabbed her throwing needles, runestones, and knives. “Ready?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Zelda nodded and she and Blue walked back to the library. Everyone else was waiting for them, Shadow wearing some sort of tunic-jacket over his normal clothes. Vio had a sack full of what Zelda guessed were runestones, as both he and Shadow used magic more than normal weapons. Shadow smiled at her.</p><p>“Zelda, are you ready to go? The four of us are going to start out on the same path, since Kakariko Village is really close to the Kokiri Forest. Then we’ll split up.” he said. Zelda fiddled with her jacket sleeves and nodded.</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>She, Shadow, Vio, and Red entered the courtyards, and Red disappeared into the Fire Rod. Shadow and Vio flew up to the top of the wall and Vio looked down at Zelda. “Climb up.” he said. Zelda frowned.</p><p>“Can’t you guys just carry me up?” she asked. Vio shrugged.</p><p>“Well, yes, but I want to see if you can make it up yourself.”</p><p>That made sense, actually. Zelda looked up at the wall. It was pretty high, if two people stood on her shoulders it would be that height. The stones looked a bit hard to actually grip onto. She looked around the courtyard and her gaze landed on a tree. The branches were probably strong enough to hold her weight. She ran at the tree and jumped to the first branch, pulling herself up and continuing to climb the tree. When she got high enough up, she reached out and grabbed the top of the wall, pulling herself up so she was standing on it.</p><p>“Wow.” Shadow commented. “You are really fast.”</p><p>“Thanks!” Zelda jumped off the wall, rolling when she hit the bottom to avoid injury and standing up straight. She stumbled a bit, putting her fingers to her forehead. “Oh, now I’m dizzy.”</p><p>“Doing that will make you dizzy.” Vio said, he and Shadow jumping off as well and just floating down.</p><p>“I know that NOW.” Zelda muttered, brushing herself off. Red appeared next to Vio and grinned, waving at Zelda. She waved back. The group of four walked in silence through the forest for a while until Zelda decided to start a conversation.</p><p>“Um, what are we going to do once we find the Sages? Will they stay in their homes, or…” she trailed off, waiting for an answer.</p><p>“Oh, yeah. What we’re going to do is convince them to join our side, and then give them the option to stay at the Temple.” Vio explained. “Of course, we have more bedrooms no one’s seen yet, so we’ll definitely have room for them if they choose to stay. Hopefully they’ll take us up on our offer.”</p><p>“Why is that?”</p><p>“Because if we want to train as much as possible with them and come up with battle strategies, it’d be way easier to do that if they stayed in the same place as us. It’s common sense, really.” Shadow said. Zelda nodded.</p><p>“Oh. Okay.” she said. Silence again. Zelda picked up a rock and started tossing it between her hands, which didn’t hurt because of the numbing potion. “Hey, what’s the Sage of Forest like?”</p><p>“Well.” Vio started. “The Sage of Forest is supposed to harbor a great love for nature and all living things. They have a strong sense of loyalty to any groups they may be a part of, thinking of them as family. Based on that, I’d assume they’d be rather stubborn, but kind-hearted as well.” Zelda thought for a moment. The Sage of Forest was probably a Kokiri, which meant they’d be at most thirteen years old. Probably the youngest Sage.</p><p>The Sage of Shadow was dying, and if they couldn’t save her (which was very likely), then they’d have to find a new Sage of Shadow. Thankfully, if she did pass, then her Sage powers would most likely go to someone close to her, so they’d be easy to find. But Zelda didn’t want that to happen.</p><p>She <i>really</i> didn’t want Impa to die.</p><p>Zelda was pulled out of her thoughts by Shadow shaking her shoulder. “Zelda, we’re here.” he said. Sure enough, they were standing at the gates of Kakariko Village. Zelda nervously tugged a strand of hair and followed Shadow inside the Village.</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, despite what it seems like, Zelda did NOT suddenly get better because she started training. The training and finding something she liked to do, as well as communication with the others, made her pain much easier but she is by no means 'better.' Keep that in mind if she 'suddenly gets worse' later on.</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos! My Tumblr is singingvio.tumblr.com!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Shadow, Zelda, Vio, and Red(Caleb) try to convince the Sage of Shadow and the Sage of Forest to join them.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Excuse me.” Shadow said, leaning on the counter of the shop. The store clerk glared at him but didn’t tell him to move.</p><p>“What?” he asked, frowning still.</p><p>“We’re looking for Impa, can you help us find her?” Shadow grabbed an arrow, waving it around like a dagger, and the man snatched it away from him.</p><p>“Don’t touch that. At least your friend has manners. Why do you need to see Impa?”</p><p>“It’s really important, we’re gathering forces to--” Zelda quickly covered his mouth with her hand. Best not to tell everyone they met their entire plan.</p><p>“We’re good friends of hers and we heard she was dying. We wanted to see her.” she said, basically pulling at straws. The man looked at her closely, then at Shadow.</p><p>“You look Sheikan, and you’re not lying, so I can show you where she is. That Gerudo has to stay out, though. We’re only letting other Sheikans see her, and I don’t trust him..”</p><p>“That’s fucking racist. And I’m plenty trustworthy.” Shadow muttered. Zelda sighed.</p><p>“That’s… fine. Show me where she is, then.” she said. The store clerk nodded.</p><p>“She’s in the big red building in the center of town. You can’t exactly miss it.”</p><p>Zelda nodded. “Thank you!” she opened the door to leave and Shadow hopped off the counter to follow her, but the clerk grabbed the back of his tunic.</p><p>“Hey, I’m not letting you leave the store, I don’t trust you to just wander about unchecked.”</p><p>Shadow groaned, irritated, and Zelda gave him an apologetic look. “I’ll be back soon, Shadow!” she said. Shadow nodded and yanked his tunic out of the clerk’s grip, glaring at him. Zelda let the door close behind her and looked around for the building. She spotted it quickly, and waked up towards it. She knocked on the door and it was almost immediately opened by a boy only a bit shorter than her.</p><p>She stared at him, wide-eyed. With Zelda’s hair tied back, they looked extremely alike. The boy’s hair was choppy, reaching down to his shoulders, and pure white, but somehow still looked like Zelda’s. They both had pale skin and blue eyes, though one of his was covered by his hair. He wore a mask and a dark blue shirt with bandages wrapped around his torso, his black pants also covered in bandages.</p><p>“Uh, hi… is Impa here?”</p><p>The boy stared at her. “Why do you want to know? Who are you?”</p><p>Din, they even <i>sounded</i> alike.</p><p>“My name is Zelda, I’m a friend of Impa’s and I heard she was dying and I came here to see her.”</p><p>He narrowed his eyes. “I’ve never heard of you.”</p><p>That made sense, since if he was her age he was probably born years after she had stopped ruling. Maybe… “I-I’m also the Sage of Time, Impa’s the Sage of Shadow.”</p><p>“Prove it.”</p><p>Zelda blinked. “What?”</p><p>He rolled his eyes. “Prove you’re the Sage of Time. Describe, in detail, what the Sacred Realm looks like. If you’re a Sage you should know. I know what it looks like since Impa was able to draw a perfect representation of it for me when I asked.”</p><p>“Oh, okay…” Zelda thought for a moment before speaking. “It’s mainly a floating platform, surrounded by both nothingness and water falling from nowhere. The platform itself is doused in shallow water that, despite flowing off of it constantly, stays the same depth all the time. On the platform is six pedestals, each a different color with a different symbol for every Sage. Yellow for Light, purple for Shadow, red for Fire, blue for Water, green for Forest, and orange for Spirit. Not in that order. In the center is the symbol of the Triforce, which also doubles as the symbol for Time. They all glow slightly, and when the Sages take their place there, they stand on the pedestals.”</p><p>The boy stared at her, then at the ground. “Damn it. You really are Sage of Time. I guess you can see Impa…” he moved aside to let her in. “I’ll take you to her.”</p><p>Zelda followed him down a hallway. “What’s your name?”</p><p>“Sheik. I’m Impa’s grandson.”</p><p>“Oh. You look a lot like me.”</p><p>“Is that an insult or a compliment?”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“Kidding.”</p><p>She didn’t think he was kidding. Sheik opened the door to a bedroom that only had a bed, a nightstand, and a chair in it. “Gramma, you have a visitor. She says she knows you.” he said. Zelda stepped into the room and saw Impa lying in the bed, not at all like she was in the Sacred Realm.</p><p>In the Sacred Realm, she was young, and healthy, not frail-looking with wrinkles and dull eyes. “Impa?” Zelda asked. Impa looked at her and smiled.</p><p>“Zelda?” she asked. Zelda nodded. “Why are you here?”</p><p>“I… need your help.” Zelda bit her lip nervously.</p><p>“What do you need my help with? Speak clearly, my hearing is not as good as it used to be.”</p><p>Zelda glanced at Sheik, who was sitting in the corner. “Uh, I’d rather talk to you about this alone.” she said. “Sorry, Sheik.”</p><p>“Fine.” Sheik muttered. “But I’ll be just outside the house. If you try anything you’re dead.”</p><p>Zelda nodded and waited until Sheik left the room to tell Impa what was going on. “You see, my friends and I have a plan to stop Demise from destroying all the realms in this universe, and we need all the Seven Sages to do it. I’m the Sage of Time, and some of my friends are looking for the Sage of Forest right now. If you’re willing and able, I want to create an alliance with you to join our forces and create an army. If possible, we also want to create an alliance with all the races of Hyrule, including the Sheikah.” she explained. Impa blinked, then slowly, sadly, smiled at her.</p><p>“I am perfectly willing, Zelda. But I don’t think I am able. I am going to die very soon, probably within the hour.” she said, and Zelda could see it, her Time powers saw Impa’s time on earth slowly fading away.</p><p>“We--” Zelda stuttered. “We can find a way to heal you! Two of my friends are magic! They can--”</p><p>“Zelda, your plan is wonderful and I am sure it will succeed.” Impa reassured her. “But if you heal me, I’m sure it will fail. Wait until my magic is passed on to my successor, then ask them. I’m very sorry.”</p><p>“I--” Zelda wiped her eyes, and realized she was crying. She didn’t want Impa to die. “You were my only friend for so long, I-- don’t leave me…”</p><p>“Shh, Zelda, it’s okay.” Impa said, reaching a hand towards Zelda. Zelda took it gently. “One of your friends is going to teach everyone how to travel between realms, correct? That includes the Spirit Realm where I will be. I’ll be waiting for you.”</p><p>“Who-- Who do you think is going to be the new Sage?” Zelda whispered.</p><p>“Probably my grandson. You already met him. He’s a lot like you, really. If I didn’t already know better, I’d say you two were twins.” she said. “Take care of him, Zelda. He’ll need it.”</p><p>“I-- okay, Impa… Goodbye.”</p><p>“Goodbye, Zelda…” Impa closed her eyes, and after a few seconds, her hand went limp in Zelda’s. Zelda slowly laid it back on the bed and backed away from the bed. Then she turned and ran, out the door, down the hallway, outside--</p><p>--and right into Sheik. He stumbled backwards and just barely steadied himself and Zelda backed away from him. “Zelda, what happened?” he asked. He sounded more concerned than mad. Zelda stared at the ground.</p><p>“I-- I-I’m so sorry, Sheik, I-I couldn’t do anything and--”</p><p>Sheik froze. “Is she--”</p><p>“I’m so sorry…”</p><p>“Oh, Hylia.”</p><p>“I-- I tried to help but--”</p><p>“Zelda, calm down.” Sheik said. “I’m not too upset, since it was natural and I knew she was going to die really soon. What did you even have to talk to her about?”</p><p>“I-” Zelda paused. “My friends are trying to save the world from being destroyed and we need the Seven Sages to do it.”</p><p>“Oh.” Sheik blinked. “Wait, who did Impa say would be the next Sage of Shadow?”</p><p>“Uh. You?”</p><p>“Shit.” Sheik hissed. “Well, can’t do anything about that… Is there a way to check that I’m actually the Sage?”</p><p>“I think I can just tell if I concentrate…” Zelda closed her eyes, trying to connect her powers to those of the other Sages. Sure enough, she felt the Sage of Shadow standing right in front of her. “Well, congrats. How do you feel about leaving this village and staying with everyone else in the Temple of Fire? We really need you.”</p><p>---</p><p>After an hour of getting lost in the Lost Woods, Vio finally found the entrance to the Kokiri Village. “The Sage of Forest had better be here…” he grumbled. Walking into the village, he immediately felt many eyes focused on him.</p><p>Of course. He was older than a Kokiri was, and definitely taller. He tapped the Fire Rod and Red appeared beside him. Some of the Kokiri he saw gasped and ran inside at the sight of the ghost, but one, with messy red hair and freckles, stomped forward with his hands on his hips, looking up at Vio. It was obvious he was trying to be threatening, but it didn’t really work as he barely reached Vio’s chin.</p><p>“What are you doing here? Who are you?”</p><p>“My name is Vio, and this is Caleb, my friend. We’re trying to find the Sage of the Forest. What’s your name, and are you in charge?”</p><p>“I’m Mido, King of the Forest!” Mido looked very proud at this declaration and Vio resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “And yeah, the Sage of Forest is here, but I doubt she’d talk to you! You probably can’t even use magic!”</p><p>At this, Vio actually did roll his eyes. He held out his hand. “Don’t scream.” his hand burst into flames, and Mido, thankfully, didn’t scream, but he was visibly startled. “If you put your hand in the flames, it won’t hurt. They’re just for show.”</p><p>“I’m… not taking that chance.”</p><p>Good choice. Vio put out the flames with a snap of his fingers and Mido visibly relaxed. “Can you please take us to the Sage of Forest now? We really need her help.”</p><p>“Sure, fine, I guess…” he muttered, turning his back to them. “Come with me.” Vio and Red followed him to the center of the village, where there was a pretty house with flowerbeds in front of it. “She’s in her house.” he pointed to the house, and Vio carefully stepped inside, Red right behind him.</p><p>“Hello?” he asked. The house was fairy simple, with a bed, dresser, basket of fruit, and toy chest. In one corner was a large pile of blankets that… seemed to be moving. “Is the Sage of Forest in here?”</p><p>The pile of blankets suddenly fell, cloth going everywhere, and a little girl stumbled out. “Yeah, I’m the Sage of Forest! My name is Saria!” she said, grinning at him. She was a bit shorter than Mido, with soft-looking green hair and blue eyes. Her green Kokiri tunic also had a turtleneck under it and her tall boots reached up to her mid-thighs. “Who are you?”</p><p>“I’m Vio, and this is Caleb. He’s my friend. We’re trying to save the universe from being destroyed.”</p><p>Saria’s cheerful expression changed to serious. “Okay, then. What’s your plan?”</p><p>“We’re going to explain it in much more detail once we have all the Sages, but right now? Find all Seven Sages, create an alliance with all races of Hyrule, form an army, and free the other realms from our enemy’s control.”</p><p>Saria thought for a moment and nodded. “Seems legit.”</p><p>“Really? So you can--” Caleb was interrupted by Saria.</p><p>“But I can’t help you.”</p><p>“What? But you just said--”</p><p>“I *said* it sounded like a good plan, but I can’t participate. One, I’m a little kid, if you haven’t noticed. I’m fragile. Also, I don’t have a good grasp on my powers yet. Finally, I can’t just abandon my friends!”</p><p>“You won’t be abandoning them, you’ll be helping them, and it’s not like you’ll never be able to see them again!” Red protested.</p><p>“How exactly can I help?”</p><p>“You can fight.” said Vio.</p><p>“No I can’t.”</p><p>“We’re going to train everyone in many different styles so they can fight. Including you.” Red said.</p><p>“Okay, what about my powers?”</p><p>“We already have the Sages of Time and Shadows. They can help you.” said Vio.</p><p>“Communication with my friends if I leave?”</p><p>“...One of my friends can teleport long distances.” Vio offered.</p><p>“Who’s going to be in charge while I’m gone?”</p><p>“While the boy Mido who led me here seems like a bit of a jerk, he also has authority and is confident. I’m sure he can be in charge, with someone to keep him in line of course.” Red suggested.</p><p>After that argument, Saria went silent. “O… Okay. As long as nothing happens to any of my friends… I’ll join you. Where are we staying?”</p><p>“...Are you okay with volcanoes?”</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wanted to write Mido as sort-of a jerk, but he's also just a kid?? So like??? He's trying to protect the others okay??? He's just kinda rude about it????</p><p>And oh boy SHEIK'S HERE. I changed his design a LOT from what it looked like in OoT, so I'll need to draw a character ref for that eventually. And oh boy SARIA'S HERE. She's just... so sweet? But like she's stubborn af.</p><p>I am so so sorry about Impa.</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos! My Tumblr is singingvio.tumblr.com!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Sages make their way back to the Temple of Fire. Also Sheik is confused.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I still can’t wrap my head around this, Zelda.” Sheik said. The two were still in the village, sitting down on a bench outside Impa’s house. “You want me to leave Kakariko and fight a-a-a gigantic evil army led by the evilest villain of all time? I JUST became a Sage! My grandma died!”</p><p>Zelda frowned. This was harder than she thought. “If you come with us you can learn how to visit the Spirit realm and see her whenever you want. And, yeah, it sounds like a lot, but Impa told me that our timeline has a good ending-- that means we live, and we win!”</p><p>“That doesn’t mean I can’t be scared to fight an ARMY.” Sheik protested.</p><p>“We’ll have a lot of help!”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yes!”</p><p>Sheik was quiet for a while. “Okay.” he whispered. “Fine.”</p><p>Zelda clapped her hands together. “Yay!” she grabbed Sheik’s arm, pulling him up off the bench. “Before we go, you should pack, while you’re doing that, I’m going to get my friend!”</p><p>“There’s more of you here?”</p><p>“Well, it’s just me and Shadow, who doesn’t look like a Sheikah and is too sassy for his own good so he’s kind of trapped in that store over there.” Zelda pointed to the store he was still in and Sheik groaned.</p><p>“Oh, boy. What time is it?”</p><p>Zelda’s Sage powers had the upside of her knowing the time without having to check. “About four PM.”</p><p>“Great.” Sheik muttered. “Just… great.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“You’ll see. Lemme get my stuff.” Sheik walked back inside his house and came back a few minutes later with a duffel bag. Zelda frowned.</p><p>“Is that all?”</p><p>“Yeah. Just some personal belongings and another set of clothes, I can always get more later.”</p><p>“Okay, then. Come on.” Zelda and Sheik walked into the store and Zelda immediately spotted Shadow. He was floating in the corner, arms crossed and clearly done. He perked up as soon as he saw Zelda.</p><p>“Zelda, finally! It’s been like an hour!” he said. “Where’s Impa?”</p><p>“Uh--” Zelda was interrupted by another voice from the store’s counter.</p><p>“Sheik! You’re here!”</p><p>Sheik winced. “Hello, Laura.” he said. The girl at the store counter, probably there for her shift, smiled at him a bit too widely. She was pretty, with her white hair pulled into a ponytail and large purple eyes. She wore a simple white tunic with a store apron.</p><p>“How are you?” she asked.</p><p>“I’m… good.”</p><p>“Good! I’m doing well, too!” she ran her fingers through a loose lock of hair next to her face. “So, Sheik, about that date--”</p><p>“Uh.” Sheik looked at Zelda with a look that read ‘PLEASE SAVE ME.’ “I’m kind of busy, Laura, I’m going to be away for a while. Sorry.”</p><p>“Oh! Maybe later, then?”</p><p>Instead of answering, Sheik grabbed Zelda’s arm and hurried out of the store as subtly as possible. Shadow followed them out as well and turned to Zelda. “You never answered my question.” he said.</p><p>“Yeah, about that…” Zelda said. “Impa… just passed away. This is Sheik, her grandson and the new Sage of Shadows.”</p><p>Shadow looked at Sheik, then back at Zelda. “You look a lot alike. Except for the hair colors and how he’s a boy and you’re a girl.”</p><p>“Yeah, we do.”</p><p>Shadow turned back to Sheik and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Sheik. I’m Shadow. I’m a demon, and before you freak out, I’m on your side and good friends with Zelda.” he said. Sheik glanced at Zelda then looked back at Shadow, cautiously shaking his hand.</p><p>“Nice to meet you, too.”</p><p>---</p><p>Green was pacing around the library worriedly wondering where everyone was. Blue had gotten back an hour ago with no luck on finding the bearer of the Triforce of Power. Vio, Red, Zelda, and Shadow weren’t back yet and Green was nervous.</p><p>“Calm down man, they’re probably fine. Besides, Shadow and Vio can teleport. They can’t get trapped anywhere.” Blue said from where he was writing down notes on the Master Sword. At that moment, the doors opened and the rest of the group walked in. Red was trailing behind Vio, who was carrying a sleeping child on his back. Shadow, Zelda, and a white-haired boy were arguing over… the best kind of fruit?</p><p>“Really, Shadow, if you think oranges are the best you’re clearly deranged.” the white-haired boy argued. “Pomegranates are the best!”</p><p>“No, they’re not! They’re sour and get stuck in your teeth and stain your clothes!” Shadow argued back.</p><p>“You’re both idiots, it’s tomatoes!” Zelda said. They both stared at her.</p><p>“Tomatoes?” both boys asked.</p><p>“Yeah! They’re a fruit!”</p><p>“...No, they’re not.” Shadow said.</p><p>“They are!” Zelda argued.</p><p>“Yeah, they are…” the other boy agreed.</p><p>“Tomatoes are a fruit, Shadow.” Green said. “Vio, is that the Sage of Forest?”</p><p>“Yeah. She’s pretty young, only ten years old. Her name is Saria. She fell asleep on the way here.”</p><p>“Oh, boy.” Blue muttered.</p><p>“And who’s this? Where is Impa?” Green asked, turning to Zelda, Shadow, and the other boy.</p><p>“Impa… just passed away. This is Sheik, her grandson.” Shadow said. Sheik gave a small wave.</p><p>“He’s the Sage of Shadow now, I’m guessing?” Vio said. Sheik nodded. “Huh. You and Zelda look--”</p><p>“We know.” they both said, deadpan. Blue snorted.</p><p>“Okay! Everyone please have a seat!” Green said, clapping his hands. “Vio, please wake up Saria.” Vio nodded and everyone took their places on one side of the table. Vio, Saria, and Shadow were on one side, Blue, Zelda, and Sheik opposite them. Red hovered next to Blue and Green was standing in front of all of them at the board. Vio shook Saria’s shoulder gently and she opened her eyes.</p><p>“Oh? Are we here?” she muttered, yawning.</p><p>“Yes. We all need to pay attention right now.” Vio said. They all turned to look at Green.</p><p>“All right, so three out of seven Sages are now here!” Green started. “Zelda, Sage of Time, Sheik, Sage of Shadow, and Saria, Sage of Forest. Zelda, Caleb, and Jarek can give us reports on anything interesting that happened on their trips today. Caleb, you start.”</p><p>Red nodded, turning to face the others. “Okay, so Vio and I barely managed to convince Saria to come live here for the foreseeable future. Kokiri Village was placed in the hands of Mido, who’s a bit of a jerk but has authority and is clearly a leader. He’s being kept in check by the Great Deku Tree. Saria wants to visit the Kokiri Village sometimes, and we arranged for Vio or Shadow to take her there once every week.” he said. Shadow and Vio nodded.</p><p>Zelda stood up. “When we got to Kakariko Village, we asked a store clerk where to find Impa and he told us, but he refused to let Shadow leave the store because he’s a Gerudo.”</p><p>“Wait, I thought he was a demon.” Sheik said.</p><p>“Don’t ask, it’s confusing, but he’s both. Anyways, when I got to Impa’s house, she was too far gone. We talked for a bit, and she told me who her successor would be. She died shortly thereafter. I then was able to convince Sheik to join us, and we went to get Shadow. Also, Sheik apparently knows another store worker there, because shifts changed while I was gone and when we got back a teenager was working there instead. She--”</p><p>Sheik glared at her. “Don’t even think about--</p><p>“She tried to convince Sheik to date her and he kind of bolted out of there, and then we left. It was kind of funny.”</p><p>“You’re dead to me.” Sheik muttered.</p><p>Blue stood up last. “Unfortunately, I searched as many villages as I could and none of them had any clues as to where the bearer of the Triforce of Power could be, or who they are, so I came back here and helped Green by researching the Master Sword as he tried to figure out connections to the Power bearers in history.”</p><p>“And I did find something. All Power bearers are Gerudo, and they’re all male. Surprisingly, unlike what the legends led us to believe, most Power bearers aren’t actually evil. The ones who turn evil are the ones who are made rulers of the Gerudo, and there isn’t a male ruler right now. Thankfully, I’m planning on getting the Sages of Light and Spirit next, so we can look for the Power bearer at the same time.”</p><p>“Okay, now to work out our training schedule with the new Sages.” Green said, changing the subject. “Do either of you have fighting experience?”</p><p>“No.” Saria said sadly.</p><p>“Ehh, sort of?” Sheik shrugged. “I know some basic moves with a sword but that’s kind of it.”</p><p>“...Okay. Jarek and Shadow can take you two to the training room after this meeting to find out your fighting styles and what weapons you use best. We have a lot of options.” Green said. “So, the training schedule is on the board here. You need to attend at least one class for each time of training a week. At least one long-range, short-range, and magic fighting class. If you skip there will be consequences. Everyone is required to attend both of Caleb’s classes on traveling between realms.”</p><p>Green looked at Blue. “Is there anything I’m missing?”</p><p>“No, but… I should tell you guys something.” he said. Red stared at him.</p><p>“Okay, what?” Zelda asked.</p><p>“So, it’s not that big of a deal but… Caleb and I are lying about our names… Our real names are Red and Blue respectively. Shadow already knows this.” Blue said. “Vio, Green, I’m really sorry for lying about that but I kind of panicked? That doesn’t make sense… sorry.”</p><p>Green blinked. “O… okay. It’s fine.”</p><p>Vio looked at Shadow, then at Blue. “We’re color-coded.” he muttered. Green burst out laughing. “And, Blue, I’m kind of upset you didn’t trust us but I understand. I think. It’s… fine.”</p><p>Blue visibly relaxed. “Okay, good… I was worried you guys would hate me or something.”</p><p>“HA! As if.” Zelda said. “Anyone else have any announcements?”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, I should say that Blue has a cat named Violet, and my name is Vio, so that may be confusing but you’ll get used to it.” Vio said. Blue stood up.</p><p>“I forgot to feed her oh my gosh-- Bye, guys!” he rushed out of the room, grabbing the Fire Rod as he left so Red could come with him.</p><p>Green clapped his hands. “Okay, sleeping arrangements… We have three rooms, one with a single bed and the other two with multiple beds. Zelda also has another bed in her room. Sheik, since you and Zelda seem to get along well, you can room with her. Saria, do you want your own room or do you want to share with one of the other Sages?”</p><p>“I want to share. I don’t like being alone in unfamiliar places.”</p><p>Green nodded. “Makes sense. Zelda, you help Sheik get settled in and I’ll help Saria. Shadow, find Blue and you two get the training room ready for our newest arrivals to use. Vio, I need your help researching more about the bearer of Power, you start on that and I'll join you when I get back.”</p><p>Everyone quickly separated to do their jobs, leaving the library.</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So,,</p><p>Sheik is great,,</p><p>That is all,,</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos! My Tumblr is singingvio.tumblr.com!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sheik and Saria get situated, and then get to choose their weapons.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Green led Saria down the hallway to one of the empty bedrooms, one of the two with multiple beds. “Choose your bed.” he said. Saria looked between them. One side of the room had a desk and a floor lamp, while the other side had a bookshelf and dresser. She walked over to the one with the bookshelf. The bed was a bit smaller, with light green sheets and many pillows.</p><p>“I like this one!” she said. She took her bag off her back and turned it upside-down, almost everything she owned spilling out. “Can you help me put this stuff away?” she asked. Green nodded.</p><p>“Sure.” he said. Most of it was clothes, different from the Kokiri tunic. A lot of them frilly dresses in a rainbow of colors. There were also some toys and children’s books, along with an ocarina. He folded and placed the clothes in the dresser and gathered the toys up to put in the chest at the foot of the bed. Saria placed the ocarina in there too and put the books on the shelves. They were done in a few minutes.</p><p>Saria sat down on the edge of her bed, kicking her feet that didn’t quite touch the ground. “Green, do you think I’ll fit in with everyone else?” she asked. “I don’t want to constantly be treated like a little kid, so I’m a bit worried.”</p><p>Green blinked. Then he smiled at her. “I think you’ll fit in just fine. Sure, you’re young, but if you’re a sage you’re probably very smart, and powerful of course. Also, hardly any of the people here act their age. They’re all so silly sometimes, you’ll probably fit right in if you don’t worry too much.”</p><p>Saria nodded. “Are you like their dad?”</p><p>“Oh, uh, I guess. Blue described me as such a while ago, and I guess I’ve just accepted it. I have kids of my own, too, so that helps.”</p><p>“Really? Who?”</p><p>“I have a wife named Esmerelda, she’s a Gerudo. Our oldest daughter’s name is Sky, who’s sixteen years old. Our son’s name is Link, and he’s twelve. We also have a baby girl who’s three months old named Ruby.”</p><p>“Cool!” Saria grinned. “Hey, what do you do for fun?”</p><p>Green looked at her. “Oh, for fun?” he asked. She nodded. “I like the stars and constellations… I train with the others a lot now, as well. And… I can play the guitar. I don’t have one here, though.” he listed.</p><p>“I like to play outside, and garden! I also like singing, and acting!” Saria said. “I want to learn how to play the ocarina, but I’ve never played it before. I bought it anyway to try and learn here. Can you maybe teach me?”</p><p>Green smiled. “Sure. Maybe tomorrow, and we can ask if anyone else wants to join and just make it a music session.”</p><p>Saria clapped her hands together happily. “Yeah! That would be really fun!” she cheered. She paused for a moment. “Can we go to the training room now? I want to see what it looks like before Sheik gets there!”</p><p>“Sure.” Green opened the door, holding it open for Saria, and led her to the training room.</p><p>---</p><p>“Bold of Green to assume we get along.” Sheik said walking with Zelda to her (and now his) room.</p><p>Zelda frowned, confused. “But we do?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Zelda stopped walking, and Sheik stopped with her.</p><p>“Oh! Before we get to our room, let’s play a game!” Zelda said, suddenly struck with the idea.</p><p>Sheik looked at her skeptically. “What kind of game?”</p><p>“Just some icebreakers! You can go first!”</p><p>“Okay.” Sheik leaned forward, staring at her. “What’s your deepest, darkest secret?”</p><p>“U-um…” Zelda stuttered. “Next question.”</p><p>“Relax, I was kidding. What’s something you really want to do but are kind of scared to do?”</p><p>“Please don’t laugh…” Zelda started. “But… I’ve always wanted to use a cannon. Hyrule doesn’t use them, but I’ve read about how they’ve been used before and it sounds so cool.”</p><p>Sheik laughed. “That actually does sound really cool! I’ve always wanted to change my eye color but I can’t find a spell to do it and I’m not very good at magic.”</p><p>“Really? What color?” Zelda asked.</p><p>“Red.”</p><p>“That would look so cool! Now it’s my turn to ask a question!” she said. “What’s something you’ve never done that most people have done before?”</p><p>“Okay, this requires some explaining, but I’ve never seen my reflection before.” Sheik answered. Zelda blinked.</p><p>“What? How?”</p><p>“So, Kakariko isn’t near any bodies of water, first of all, and second, I’m scared that there’s gonna be an evil monster trapped in a mirror that’s gonna kill me in my sleep, so I avoid them. I don’t know what I look like.”<br/>Zelda couldn’t stop herself, she started laughing. Sheik wrinkled his nose at her, offended. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at you, I just-- that’s kind of bizarre!”</p><p>“Okay, but, really. I actually have that fear!”</p><p>“My room has a mirror, and I promise there are no evil monsters inside to kill you.” Zelda said. “My answer is that I’ve never been to a party.”</p><p>“You WHAT?”</p><p>“I… was really busy a lot and never got invited to ones... “ Zelda muttered. Sheik shook his head.</p><p>“We need to fix that. When’s your birthday?” he asked.</p><p>“June Seventh.”</p><p>“Okay… that’s two months from now. We can throw a party for you then.” he said. “My birthday’s also June Seventh.”</p><p>“Weird…” Zelda and Sheik continued walking and soon reached Zelda’s room. She opened the door and walked in, Sheik following her. “Okay, my bed’s that one. Yours is there. We’ve got a window, which is pretty cool. The mirror is right there.”</p><p>Sheik groaned. “Great, it’s next to my bed. I will wake up and see my own face every morning.”</p><p>“It’s not that bad!” Zelda protested. “Come on, put your stuff down so you can see what you look like!” she pushed Sheik over to the mirror as soon as he dropped his bag on the bed and he just stared at his reflection for a minute. It was silent for a while until he finally commented on it.</p><p>“I… can see why Laura had a crush on me.”</p><p>Zelda cackled. “Come on, let’s see what you’ve got!” Sheik opened his bag and pulled out an extra set of clothes, a pan flute, a harp, a dictionary, and…</p><p>“A hairpin?” she asked, taking it from him to examine it. It was obviously expensive, golden vines with blooming flowers curling around little diamonds set in the center in the shape of a spiral. “Why?”</p><p>“It was Gramma’s.”</p><p>“Oh. Makes sense you’d want to keep it.” she looked at the instruments. “Are you a musician?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m pretty good at the harp but I’m decent at the pan flute too. I can also play some piano and guitar.” he paused. “Let’s go to the training room now.”</p><p>---</p><p>When Sheik and Zelda got there, Saria was already waiting, sitting on the floor. Shadow and Blue were standing next to her. “Thanks, Zelda.” Sheik said. Zelda nodded, smiling at the others, and left. Sheik turned to look at Shadow and Blue. Both were wearing black training uniforms and holding their own choices of weapons. Blue had a hammer and a sword. Shadow had a sword and a bag of what Sheik guessed were runestones.</p><p>“Okay, you two!” Blue said. “What we’re going to do is this: Shadow and I are going to pair up with you guys, and we’re going to have all of you test out using the weapons. After that, we’re going to help you decide which weapons would work best for you and your fighting styles. Then, you’re going to attack us to see how well you fare against a moving target.” he gestured to a rack of training uniforms. “Both of you pick a uniform and take off any accessories you have that might get in the way. You might want to pull your hair back, too. The bathrooms are the first door on the right when you leave here, just pick any door there to use.” he said.</p><p>Sheik and Saria made their way to the uniforms, each grabbing one before leaving the training room. They found the bathrooms rather easily and put on their clothes that changed size to fit them perfectly. Saria tied up her hair and took off her boots that weren’t made for combat, leaving her barefoot. Sheik reluctantly took off his mask and tied up his hair as well, and unwrapped the bandages around his forearms and legs. They were really just worn for fun.</p><p>The two walked out of the bathrooms and back to the training room where Shadow and Blue had laid out all the weapons on the ground. Blue tossed both of them a sword. “We should start simple.” he said. “Sheik, you’re with me. Shadow is with Saria.”</p><p>While Shadow taught Saria how to hold and use a sword, Sheik started attacking Blue with the little experience he already had. Of course, he couldn’t hit him because he was inexperienced and the wooden sword was actually quite heavy. After a few minutes, he just dropped the sword, giving up. It clearly wasn’t the best weapon for him. He looked over at Saria and saw she was having similar luck.</p><p>---</p><p>Finally, after trying out every weapon, the four sat in the center of the training room, much like Zelda had. Saria stared at all the weapons and turned to Shadow. “I want the spear. Two of them, double-bladed.”</p><p>Shadow tilted his head. “Are you sure? The spears have a long reach, but you’re… kind of too short to use one comfortably.”</p><p>Saria giggled. “I could hit you a bunch with it, though! Also, if the spears are long enough, I can use them as a form of pole vaults. And my magic as a Sage…” she paused. “I found out I can levitate! I assume that can also apply to objects in my possession, like the spears. So, two spears, please!”</p><p>Shadow thought about that for a moment before sighing in defeat, tossing her two spears longer than her entire body. “Here you go. If you get beaten to a pulp because you chose the wrong weapon, it’s not my fault.” Saria smiled and looked at the spears, twirling them around with her tiny hands. Surprisingly, they stayed balanced, partly because Saria was now floating so they didn’t touch the ground.</p><p>“Okay, Sheik, Blue, your turn!” Shadow called. He quickly dodged a spear thrown at him and glared up at Saria. “Hey! I didn’t say we could start yet!”</p><p>“Oops!” Saria laughed. “Sorry…”</p><p>Sheik turned immediately to the long-range weapons. “I think… I want the boomerang.” he said. “I would do the best with the weapons Zelda probably has, since we’re so alike and I’d guess that applies to fighting styles as well, but I don’t want to be a copy of her, exactly. Also, the boomerang is unpredictable, but my good aim can help me control it, so attacking can surprise my enemies quite a lot.”</p><p>Blue tilted his head. “Just the boomerang?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Blue folded his arms, frowning, and grabbed some runestones, tossing them at Sheik. “Well, at least use these runes as well. There’s mostly offense, but some defense as well. Don’t just run blindly into a battle using one weapon, you have a lot of pride, which is going to be your downfall. Especially if you only use the boomerang.”</p><p>Sheik nodded, more than a little insulted. He wasn’t full of pride, he just thought more than one weapon would slow him down! “Fine.”</p><p>Blue nodded and turned to Shadow. “So, should we start?”</p><p>He grinned. “Yeah.” he looked at Sheik and Saria. “Come on, then.”</p><p>Sheik made the first move. He rushed at Blue, tossing the boomerang. He missed, and Blue laughed, swinging his hammer at him. At that moment, Sheik dodged out of the way and Blue was hit in the back of the head with the boomerang. Almost. “What the--” As Blue caught the Boomerang, shocked and caught off-guard, Sheik kicked his leg. Hard. Blue was defeated, and Sheik didn’t even need to use the runestones.</p><p>“Okay, okay, you proved me wrong. Let’s move out of the way for Saria and Shadow.” Blue muttered. The two moved to the edge of the training room and sat down, watching the others fight.</p><p>Saria seemed to be doing better as expected, her control of the spears using magic being a little flimsy, but nonetheless she hit Shadow more than once (though only a few times overall) and blocked many of his attacks with the staffs of her spears.</p><p>Eventually, the two finished and Shadow gave her a high-five. “Good job, Saria!” he grinned. “I completely underestimated your strength with those weapons.”</p><p>Saria shuffled her feet. “I… I barely managed to hit you, though…”</p><p>Shadow just slapped her on the back,still smiling. “I mean, duh, you’ve never fought before! The only ones who’ve been able to actually hit me have been Vio and Zelda, because they both know be so well.”</p><p>“Also because you keep letting Vio win on purpose!” Blue called. Shadow turned red.</p><p>“SHUT UP!” he yelled. Blue just laughed. “Uh… anyway, it’s almost dinnertime… let’s all get changed and go to the dining room.”</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>ME: Chapter 15 is ready!<br/>ME: *Realizes I never posted chapter 14* fuck.</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos! My Tumblr is singingvio.tumblr.com!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Green Hides A Knife In His Shoe Like A Dumbass, and a trip to Gerudo town... happens.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Okay, here’s the plan for today!” Green said. It was early in the morning, about five AM, and Green had woken everyone up for a plan he had worked up. Zelda and Sheik were basically leaning on each other with how tired they were, Shadow and Blue were already asleep, Vio seemed fine since he rarely slept anyway, but that didn’t mean he was fully awake, Red was also fine because he was dead and therefore didn’t sleep to gain energy, Saria was trying to stay awake and failing, and Green was full of energy.</p><p>“Shadow and Vio will go and find the Sage of Light. He should be in Hyrule Castle, the Castle Town, or just outside of it.” Green said. Blue laughed.</p><p>“What?” Vio asked. Blue shook his head, still laughing.</p><p>“Nothing… it’s nothing…” he giggled. Vio gave him a *look* but let it go.</p><p>Green continued. “I’m going to go find the bearer of the Triforce of Power, since they’re most likely Gerudo and I lived in the Gerudo Village for most of my life… that I remember, that is. Red, you come with me.” he said.” Red grinned.</p><p>“Okay!” he said happily.</p><p>“Blue, you, Zelda, and the Sages do research in the library, find out more. We still don’t know everything and that needs to change. Also, all of you need to train together more at some point as well.” Green finished. He clapped his hands loudly and multiple people would deny yelling in surprise, since they weren’t shocked at all by the loud noise. *Cough, Vio and Sheik, cough.* “All right, that’s all, guys! Vio and Shadow, get ready to go and I’ll do the same, everyone else, start researching in the library!”</p><p>Everyone got up and started doing what they were told, Vio muttering something about coffee before leaving with Shadow behind him. Green went to his own room to get ready and was surprised to see Blue already there. When Blue saw him, he quickly shoved something under his pillow. Green noticed a glint of metal in the light but didn’t really question it. “How… did you get here before me?”</p><p>Blue shrugged. “You’re old and I’m fast.” he grinned. “Oh, and did you pair Vio and Shadow up for other reasons, besides the fact that they’re a good team?”</p><p>“Uh.” Green stared at the ceiling. “Not really, though I get what you’re implying.”</p><p>“They need to get their acts together.” Blue muttered, going over to his desk and pulling out a large sheet of paper. Green looked over his shoulder to see something that was a list of names in a circle and a color key, different colored lines connecting the names. Of course, yellow (platonic relationship) covered almost the entire thing, but some other lines stood out. For example, Green was connected to the others with a teal line (Parent-like/protective), and Shadow had a pink line (crush) pointing towards Vio, but Vio’s pink line towards Shadow had question marks around it. And… Blue and Vio had a black line, showing mutual dislike.</p><p>“Blue, do you and Vio really not like each other?” Green asked. Blue hurried to cover up the chart.</p><p>“Uh… What?”</p><p>“You heard me.”</p><p>Blue sighed and turned around in his chair to gace Green. “Okay, to answer your question, no, I do not like Vio and I don’t think he likes me either. He’s too damn perceptive and it makes me uneasy, and also he’s kind of stuck-up.”</p><p>Green thought for a moment. “Really? He doesn’t seem that stuck-up to me.”</p><p>“Trust me, he is stuck-up.” Blue muttered. “He needs to get off his high horse.” Green paused.</p><p>“Perceptive?” he asked. Blue nodded.</p><p>“Yeah, he is, and I don’t like it.” he said. Silence. Suddenly, he stood up with a frown on his face. “I’m going to go train for a bit. See you when you guys get back.” With that, he walked out of the room. Green watched him go worriedly. He didn’t expect Blue to get upset about that.</p><p>Green finished packing what he thought he’d need to leave when he noticed something under Blue’s pillow, something that was… glowing.</p><p><i>Whatever it is, don’t interfere,</i> Green’s mind told him as he walked over and picked up the pillow to reveal a dagger. He inspected it curiously. It didn’t look at all like something Blue would own, Green knew from quick chatter during training that he didn’t like fancy weapons like this, he wanted them to just be practical and not too flashy. If they were this nice, they might attract monsters.</p><p>The dagger was well-made and looked silver, but when Green looked closer he could tell it wasn’t. The hilt was a dark red and had runes scratched into it that he couldn’t read. It was glowing, too, for some reason.</p><p>Definitely not something Blue would own.</p><p>So why did he have this dagger?</p><p>Despite his better judgement, Green shoved the dagger into his shoe so it was hidden better and quickly left the room.</p><p>Almost immediately he felt a sharp pain in the side of his foot. He quickly slipped off his shoe to see the dagger had cut into his foot. It didn’t have a sheath. “Oh.” he muttered. “...Ouch.” With no other way to carry the dagger, he wiped off the blood on his shirt (which was brown, so the blood didn’t show) and just put the dagger back in his shoe.</p><p>He met Vio and Shadow in the courtyard. Shadow grinned at him and Vio completely ignored him as he effortlessly flew over the stone wall and landed on the other side. Shadow followed Vio easily and Green was left to climb up the wall by hand, which wasn’t that difficult. Red appeared beside him as he landed.</p><p>“So, Green, who do you think is the bearer of the Triforce of Power?” he asked as the four started walking. Green shrugged.</p><p>“I… have a few theories. The Power bearer is always a male Gerudo, and there are only two in the entire tribe. One of them is a boy who is, in all honesty, mean, and I really don't want him to have that kind of, uh, power. The other is my son, Link.” Shadow laughed at the pun and Green sighed. He winced as the dagger cut his foot again and Red frowned at him, concerned.</p><p>“Green, are you okay?” he asked. Green shook his head.</p><p>“I’m f--” he paused. “You know what, screw it. I stole a dagger from Blue because it’s really weird and I hid it in my shoe.” he said. Vio raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“I do hope it was in a sheath of some sort?” he asked. Green shook his head again. “Then why did you put it in your shoe? That’s just begging to get stabbed in the foot.”</p><p>“I know that NOW.” he huffed, sitting down on a tree stump to tug off his shoe and taking out the dagger.</p><p>“You should have known that before you did it, it’s common sense.” Shadow said. “Why’s the dagger weird?”</p><p>“For one, it glows. Also it has writing on the hilt I can’t read.” he said. “And it’s made with a material that I don’t think is well-known.” Shadow frowned and held out his hand. Green gave him the dagger, and Shadow inspected it. When he read the writing, he immediately turned around and threw the dagger as far away from him as possible.</p><p>“SHADOW!” Red cried. “That’s Blue’s dagger!”</p><p>“Trust me, you’ll thank me when I tell you what that thing is.” Shadow said. “You know what that says?” They all shook their heads. “Of course you don’t, it’s written in the ancient language of the spirits. <i>’When moonlight touches this blade, the wielder will gain whatever it is they desire, but with a price to pay in return.’</i>” he said. “Do you know what that price is?” he paused to see their reactions. “That price is death.”</p><p>“...Death?” Red whispered, horrified. Shadow nodded.</p><p>“Yeah, death. I mean, you don’t immediately die from wielding this blade, but-- okay, let’s back up. You probably know that legend of the spirit inside the Master Sword? Well, that spirit has a companion, and that companion is deadly, extremely vicious, and pure evil. Guess where he is. In that dagger.”</p><p>“...Oh.” Green said. Vio brushed his hair out of his eyes, sighed, and walked over to where Shadow threw the knife. He carefully picked it up using magic and placed it in his pocket. He turned to the others again and put a hand on Shadow’s head, ruffling his hair. Shadow visibly relaxed at his touch.</p><p>“Despite the dangers of this dagger, it requires further research. And besides, if we leave it here dark forces may get ahold of it, which would be terrible if what Shadow said is true--” Shadow glared at him and Vio gave a comforting smile. “Which I’m sure it is, since he’s very knowledgeable about this kind of stuff.” he assured him. “I suggest we keep this a secret from the others until we know more-- perhaps the Sage of Light would know more, since he’s the oldest of the Sages. So, Shadow and I will ask about it when we visit him.”</p><p>“That’s… a pretty good plan. Why don’t you help Blue with this type of stuff much?” Red asked, swirling around Green a bit.</p><p>“Because Blue tends to think after he acts. He’s quick to anger and lets his emotions rule his actions. His thought process is very different from mine, and our personalities clash. I am practically the opposite of Blue. I think before I act, working out every detail before I do anything. I let my mind take over, and rule emotions as an afterthought. That doesn’t mean I don’t like emotions, or don’t listen to them, just so you know.” Vio explained. Green frowned.</p><p>“Every detail? Before you do anything? That must make you really slow.” he said. Vio glared at him and snapped his fingers, and Green was suddenly surrounded in pitch black-and-purple flames.</p><p>“I just thought out every probable outcome within reason if I did that, and only in a second. Is that slow to you?” he seethed. Green shook his head frantically. “I thought so. A demon’s mind is much faster than a Hylian’s. I wasn’t this fast before, but still quick enough to do this.” with a flick of his hand, the flames disappeared, leaving no evidence that they’d ever existed in the first place.</p><p><i>This kid is probably one of the most dangerous people in our group. Forget Shadow, if Vio killed he’d have no remorse.</i> Green thought, and he made a mental note to be wary of him from now on.</p><p>With that little display, the group of four continued on their way.</p><p>Shadow took out one of his runestones and started tossing it in his hand, humming a traditional Gerudo tune. Any of the others that didn’t know Shadow’s past would assume he heard the tune somewhere in Hyrule, but Green knew it was a lullaby Shadow said his mother sang him when he was human.</p><p>A sad thing to think about.</p><p>Wait.</p><p>Hold up.</p><p>Just a diddly-darn second.</p><p>“Hey, Shadow, can you come with me and Red to Gerudo town instead of with Vio to the Sage of Light?” Shadow’s eyes flashed in surprise as he looked at Green, confused.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Well, you’re--” Shadow shook his head lightly, barely there, and Green paused. Maybe Vio didn’t know. “I just have a feeling.”</p><p>“But… that would mean Vio goes alone to the Sage of Light?” Red asked. Well, Green was going to switch Red and Shadow out, but actually…</p><p>“I think the Sage of Light would be better convinced if only Vio went. Vio has a way with words, and again, I just have this feeling.” Green explained. Vio nodded slowly in understanding.</p><p>“I think we should trust Green’s instinct. He hasn’t exactly been wrong before.” he said. Shadow sighed reluctantly and Red nodded.</p><p>“Sure, fine. We’re at the city now, anyway.” Shadow said, kicking a nearby rock. He looked at Vio and his eyes flashed a bright pink before back to red, so fast Green barely saw it. He quickly waved goodbye to Vio and stepped right into the city, the guards not even noticing him. <i>Oh, he’s Gerudo. Right.</i> Green thought. Red disappeared as Green followed Shadow into the city, waving hello at the guards. (he still remembered their names, of course.)</p><p>Before they went too far into the city, Green put a hand on Shadow’s shoulder to stop him. “What?” he asked. Green pointed to the beach, where a lone house stood looking over the waves.</p><p>“That’s my house. I want to pay a visit there.” he said. Shadow shook his head.</p><p>“Let’s do that after we find that Gerudo boy you were talking about,” he replied. Green hesitated a moment then nodded. The two walked in circles for a while before finally they saw a group of Gerudo children playing with a ball, one of them a Gerudo boy with brown-black hair and dark skin with yellow eyes. Shadow’s eyes widened and he quickly ran up to the boy. “Hey, you, kid!--”</p><p>While Shadow talked to him, Green just stood there and watched. The kid was a jerk, but Shadow could handle him-- never mind, Shadow just stomped back over to Green, his eyes glowing an angry blue. “He is not the one.” he grumbled. “Let’s go to your house now.”</p><p>Green resisted the urge to laugh and just led him to where the small house was. He gave a quick knock on the door, but didn’t have to wait any more than a few seconds before the door was flung open from the other side by Sky.</p><p>“Dad! You’re back!” She cried. The girl jumped at Green and practically tackled him in a hug. Green stumbled and after steadying himself, he hugged her back. “MOM, GET OVER HERE!”</p><p>Esmerelda walked towards Green calmer than Sky had, and pulled him into a hug as well. Then she slapped him across the face. “YOU HAD ME WORRIED SICK, YOU IDIOT!” she yelled. Green rubbed his cheek, wincing.</p><p>“Ow. That hurt.” he replied. Esmerelda glared at him and grabbed his arm, dragging him inside. </p><p>“Sky, help get our guest settled while I have a little talk with your father for worrying me.” she said, stomping upstairs and pulling Green into a room and shutting the door. Shadow soon heard shouting and decided that was a can of worms he wasn’t going to open.</p><p>Green’s daughter looked down at Shadow from her (really tall!) height. “Who are you?”</p><p>Shadow held out a hand for her to shake and gave her his trademark smirk. “I’m Shadow, I’m a friend of Green’s.”</p><p>Sky raised an eyebrow. “You look younger than me.”</p><p>Shadow put his hand back by his side and pouted. “I don’t age, that’s all…”</p><p>“Huh. Okay, then, come inside. I’ll get my siblings and Mom will be back down soon, I hope. You want anything to eat?” Sky led Shadow inside to where Shadow assumed was the living room.</p><p>“Nah, I’m good.” Shadow said.</p><p>“Cool. Let’s just wait, then.”</p><p>---</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Green you don't just hide a knife in your shoe that's so stupid what are you doing.</p><p>You're supposed to be the responsible one.</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos! My Tumblr is singingvio.tumblr.com!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So, if you want to hear more of this AU, it's all on my Tumblr! Singingvio.Tumblr.com/tagged/fs+-fallen-timeline/chrono</p><p>Please leave comments/kudos with what you liked/disliked/thought about in this story! I'd really appreciate it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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